Awards & Accolades
1. The Walsh Group/Archer Western has been ranked No. 1 Wastewater Treatment Contractor and No. 1 Water Treatment and Desalination Plant Contractor by Engineering-News Record. They have been ranked as the No. 1 Water Treatment and Desalination Plant Contractor since 2014 and No. 1 Wastewater Treatment Plant Contractor since 2016.
2. Architectural Digest recognized Phoenix’s historic Orpheum Theatre on its 2018 list of most beautifully-designed theaters in each state. The Orpheum Theatre, designed by architects Lescher & Mahoney, opened as a vaudeville house in 1929. It was the last major construction project in Phoenix before the Great Depression.
3. The Arizona Community Foundation, Republic Media and Morrison Institute for Public Policy announced five winners in the Water Public Art Challenge. The winners were: Making the Invisible Visible, City of Mesa | Water=Life; We Are Still Here, Vesich eth ve:m (All of Us Together); A Deeper Map, Scottsdale Arts; Portal to the Past; and Su:dagi Haichu Agga (Waters Story), The Continuum. Each will receive $50K to develop their project.
Groundbreakings
4. Ottawa University Arizona announced groundbreaking for the addition of a 73.5KSF student housing facility. The $19.9M project is set to open next November 2019. NOVO Development is the developer, working with architectural firm HKS and construction firm Wespac Construction.
5. McCarthy Building Companies recently broke ground on Campo Bello Elementary School, a new-build construction project for PVSchools that includes demolition of the existing campus as well as some renovation work.
6. Phoenix Union High School District is celebrating the start of construction for Central High School’s $9M modernization project. Plans include the modernization of the school’s cafeteria, adding approximately 6KSF; expanding the school’s culinary program with a new demonstration area and culinary lab space; upgrading the safety and security of the registration area; and renovating the front entry of the campus.
7. Salt River Hotel @ the Block in Scottsdale is a four-story dual-Hilton brand hotel features 166 guest rooms and is now under construction through a partnership of Western States Lodging, Beecher Walker Architects, hardison/downey construction, and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.
8. Majestic Realty Co. has begun construction on a two-building industrial complex in Tolleson. The Majestic Tolleson Center, will be built on 19 acres west of 83rd Avenue south of Van Buren Street.
9. The Fort Mojave Indian Tribe has broken ground for its Fort Mojave Culture Center and Elementary School. The facility is scheduled to be completed by July in time to open for the 2019-20 school year.
10. Construction is underway on the first phase of Tucson Cannabis Campus, a project envisioned as an eventual 440KSF facility on 16 acres of industrial land in Rita Ranch.
Progress Reports
11. University of Arizona‘s new indoor sports center has been named The Cole and Jeannie Davis Sports Center and will serve as the practice facility for Arizona’s football team and as a gathering place for fans on game days. The UA that the Davises have committed $8M toward the ongoing construction of the project, scheduled to open early next year.
Completions
12. ISM Raceway in Avondale, formerly known as Phoenix International Raceway, has undergone a $178M renovation in the past year. ISM will publicly debut its renovations for its fall NASCAR race, the Can-AM 500.
13. Sundt | Yates Construction, a joint venture, recently completed a hotel expansion at the Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino Resort near Maricopa. The design-build project added a new 12-story, 388KSF, 230-room hotel tower and a 730-space parking structure.
14.With Arizona Department of Transportation projects improving Interstate 17 and Interstate 40 around Flagstaff approaching a winter hiatus, the area now has upgraded bridge decks, two new bridges and 20 total miles of rebuilt roadway. There are also many more miles of fresh pavement, with additional paving to come when warmer temperatures return.
15. The nine-screen Galaxy Theater at 100 S. Houghton Road in Tucson, once the site of a Basha’s Supermarket, has opened, providing a luxury cinema experience for guests. Galaxy Theatres were invited to the area by Bradford M. Freeman of Brentwood Developments, The project, including demolishing the existing Basha’s and building the new theater, took two years to complete.