It hasn’t taken Boaz Ventures co-founder Joey Azar long to have an impact in his hometown.

He returned home to the Rocket City more than two-and-a-half years ago during the Covid-19 pandemic and started his development company.

His firm is involved with two major projects going up in Huntsville – the mixed-use Arcadia apartment complex next to the Alabama School for Cyber Technology and Engineering and the Nexus on Holmes student apartment complex adjacent to the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

While Azar was born in Salt Lake City, Azar grew up in south Huntsville, attended Chaffee Elementary, Whitesburg Middle, then graduated from Grissom High School before attending the University of Alabama.

Following his graduation from Alabama, he spent a few years in construction before moving to the investment and development side of real estate. He worked at Harbert Management Corporation in Birmingham, which is one of the largest alternative asset private equity companies in the Southeast. He says he wouldn’t be where he is without his training at Harbert.