By Boris Kurbanov, Jewish Sound Correspondent
Nearly 50 years after the late Morris Piha opened his commercial real estate company, Morris Piha Real Estate Services, the firm has rebranded, announcing its new name on Sept. 17 as Azose Commercial Properties. Long known for being one of Puget Sound’s top commercial real estate firms, the name change represents the company’s evolution since its inception in 1965.
The company recently relocated from its Bellevue headquarters to Mercer Island, said president and CEO David Azose, though you shouldn’t expect big changes—the game is the same, just with a new name. Property management—the firm owns 130 properties and manages nearly 3.5 million square feet of property from Olympia to Bellingham—will remain the company’s focal point. Properties the firm owns includes offices, retail, and industrial warehouses. The firm also brokers real estate deals and invests in real estate.
“The reality is the new brand is simply an extension of who we were before,” said vice president Michael Azose, David’s son. “The people that are here, the principles, the service we offer, is exactly is the same. Our family has always been a family business, so the new name, the new brand, simply reflects where we are today.”
Michael’s brother Jay Azose is also a vice president of the company.
The rebranding effort began this summer as the firm rolled out a new logo and website.
“At the end of the day, all you have is your name and your reputation,” Piha would say before he died last year at the age of 79, following a battle with cancer. After founding the firm, the proud yet inconspicuous Piha acquired hundreds of properties in the Northwest over the span of his 48-year career. At one time, Piha owned most of historic downtown Bellingham.
Today, what does success look like for the Azoses?
“It’s really all about customer service, and being in this business for 50 years, and the long-term relationships is what we pride ourselves on,” David Azose said. “We just did one little step at a time. It wasn’t us going out and picking up 80 properties overnight.”
David Azose said the family-owned firm prides itself on its relationships and the ability to help local family-owned companies who own real estate, as well as foreign investors. David Azose, who married into the Piha family, has been with the firm since 1977. He said he attributes the firm’s growth to its client, vendor and attorney referral network.
David Azose and Piha became equal partners in the early 1980s, with Azose taking over as president in 1984. Under their direction, the firm grew to become the 15th-largest commercial property management company in the region. After Piha died, Azose bought the balance of the company.
Since 2011, the firm has seen remarkable growth, particularly within the property management side of its operations, growing the number of properties it manages by more than 25 percent.
Just how strong is the retail market these days in the Puget Sound region? It varies, depending on where you are, Michael Azose said.
“The closer you are to major cities, things are great because businesses are starting and expanding,” he said. “As you sprawl further out, what we’ve found is those markets aren’t doing as great. And it’s not a function of the economies; primarily, it’s that they’re overbuilt —what we get is more space than that market can support.”
That said, “the Pacific Northwest is and will continue to be a sought-after market for commercial real estate investment,” though he noted that such communities as Auburn and Bonney Lake continue to struggle. Investors, he said — both domestic and foreign — should “carefully navigate prospective properties to ensure that they are not just good properties today, but quality assets to hold indefinitely.”
Real estate as a whole is never a straight line, Michael Azose said, noting that investors should look at cycles and referrals. A lot of Azose Commercial Properties’ referrals have come from within Seattle’s Jewish community, with which the firm has close ties.
“A lot of the relationships we have are with the Jewish families,” he said. “There are a lot of families that have been with us ever since the very beginning.”
Piha supported and served on the boards of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Samis Foundation, Foundation Bank and the Sephardic Brotherhood, and David Azose began serving on the Samis board shortly after Piha’s death.
“We are a continuation of the foundation Morrie laid, and I feel proud we’ve stuck to his high standards,” David Azose said. “The way we do business, the way we operate and the way we treat people, all comes from Morrie and what he was about. My hope is I’ll be able to leave this legacy and someday pass the torch to Michael.”