Awards & Accolades
1. In a first for Arizona, the Novus Innovation Corridor earned LEED-ND Gold certification last month from the U.S. Green Building Council. The 355-acre mixed-use, public-private partnership between Arizona State University and Catellus Development Corporation is adjacent to the ASU Tempe campus. The 62 points awarded to Novus qualifies it nationally among the top ten best-scoring LEED-ND projects of all time.
Groundbreakings
2. Agate Construction recently broke ground on the new 24.9KSF Falco Aluminum facility, located at 1328 S. 56th Street, Chandler. The completed facility will include three overhead cranes, a 54-foot-tall furnace, a 40-foot-deep quench tank, an aging oven and extrusion press machinery. BRB Architects is the design firm on the project. The project is expected to be completed in December of this year.
3. Sundt Construction, Inc., recently started construction on the Arizona Department of Transportation‘s (ADOT) Interstate 40 (I-40) West Flagstaff bridge replacement approximately three miles west of the Interstate 17 junction. The $6.5M project consists of replacing the existing three-span concrete bridge in both eastbound and westbound directions and adding a new single-precast concrete bridge. Construction is slated for completion in June 2022.
4. ClearSky Health recently broke ground on a new 30-bed, 43KSF inpatient rehabilitation hospital at 109th Avenue and West McDowell Road, Avondale. The hospital is expected to open Summer 2022. Dekker Perich Sabatini is the architect and Caliente Construction is the general contractor.
Progress Reports
5. Adolfson & Peterson Construction topped out Ridgeview College Preparatory High School in San Tan Valley, officially reaching the project’s construction midpoint. AP began construction on the 37KSF campus in March 2021, and completion is expected in early July 2021. Designed by Carhuff & Cueva Architects, the campus will feature a regulation-sized gymnasium, science labs, technology-rich classrooms and indoor/outdoor learning spaces that provide students with comfortable, flexible and student-focused environments.
6. The Arizona Department of Transportation, in conjunction with the Federal Highway Administration, has begun paving the Interim Phase II section of State Route 24, also referred to as Gateway Freeway. This section includes approximately five miles of new freeway extending from Ellsworth Road in Maricopa County to Ironwood Drive in Pinal County. The Interim Phase II segment of SR 24 follows the completion of Phase I in 2014, which opened the segment of freeway between SR 202 (Loop 202/Santan Freeway) and Ellsworth Road. Stanley Consultants, Inc. is the design firm and FNF Construction is the general contractor.
7. Development around Tucson’s iconic Benedictine Monastery is on schedule and apartments on the south side of the project will be ready for lease this summer. More than 250 units are under construction on both sides of the monastery at 800 N. Country Club Road. The north side should be completed and ready for lease by November. Poster Frost Mirto is the design firm and Sundt Construction, Inc. is the general contractor. Ross Rulney is the developer.
8. Banyan Residential closed on a $101.5M construction loan to finance the 515 additional apartment units that comprise the second phase of the Scottsdale Entrada project. Banyan acquired the site in December 2019 and broke ground the following March. The office component and first phase of residential units are anticipated to be complete in the fourth quarter of 2021. Todd & Associates is the architect for the multifamily portion and SmithGroup is the architect for the office portion. hardison/downey construction is the general contractor.
9. Vertical construction at the $3.4M Tempe Micro Estates began in April and crews have erected the exterior walls of about nine of the homes. The project, which is being built by Newtown Community Development Corporation, will include 13 homes slated for completion in late summer after several delays. This project is being constructed by 180 Degrees Design + Build.
10. Sprouts Farmers Market announced it will soon finish construction on its new 25KSF store at 4201 W. Thunderbird Road, Phoenix, which will replace an existing Glendale location at Peoria and 51st avenues. The Phoenix store will employ 100 total team members, including 45 new hires.
Completions
11. Northpointe at Vistancia is officially opening later this month, offering an elevated desert living experience. Planned to include approximately 3,200 homes, the introductory phase includes 437 homes by David Weekley Homes, Pulte Homes and Richmond American Homes. The Sovita Club at Northpointe, a 10-acre amenity site featuring a 5.3KSF recreation center set at the highest point of the property features a resort-style pool, movement and fitness on-demand studio, multi-use turf court and basketball court, resident entertaining spaces, event lawns, and kid’s playscape.
12. HonorHealth announced the opening of the $44M Bob Bové Neuroscience Institute at HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center. The facility features five stories and 120KSF of space that includes a state-of-the-art conference center, a 32-chair infusion suite, a bio skills lab, Spine Group Arizona, Barrow Brain and Spine neurosurgeon offices and allows for the expansion of HonorHealth Neurology to 12 providers. Devenney Group Architects was the design firm and Okland Construction was the general contractor.
13. Pinal County’s new two-story Development Services building, replacing the old “Building F” that was once a jail, opened with a ribbon cutting on May 19th. The new $13M building at 85 N. Florence Street houses staff from Community Development, Public Works, Air Quality and Open Space and Trails, as well as staff from the civil division of the County Attorney’s Office. BWS Architects was the design firm and Danson Construction, LLC was the general contractor.
14. The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona has completed a year–long $4M renovation project at its facility. This was the first major renovation of the building, 3003 S. Country Club Road, which has housed the food bank for more than 25 years. The project included expanding the cool- and frozen-food storage areas, made improvements to the parking lot and traffic flow and created dedicated space for volunteer work and training.
15. 50 community residents, city council members and staff gathered this month to celebrate the new, $2M youth baseball field at Floyd Gaines Park at Nash and Rimrock streets near Grand Avenue. The original Floyd Gaines baseball field, across the street from the new park, was demolished in 2018 to make way for Heritage at Surprise affordable housing complex.