Author: BEX Staff

By BEX Staff for AZBEX Gov. Katie Hobbs has signed a nearly $17.6B budget spending plan. The approval follows weeks of standoffs between the Governor’s Office and the Arizona State Legislature that raised tensions around the state, with a possible government shutdown looming July 1. News reports say there was disappointment expressed by Hobbs, as well as by both Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature. All sides, however, expressed varying degrees of relief a compromise was reached that will allow operations to continue. Both Democrats and Republicans claimed victory over some points and conceded losses on others. Other reports provided…

Giving Back 1. Achen-Gardner Construction, Southwest Gas, Arizona 811 and the Arizona Corporation Commission celebrated Trench Safety Week by visiting construction sites to reinforce safe trenching practices. 2. Brycon recently announced the results of its annual backpack drive. This year, Brycon was able to fill and deliver 100 fully assembled backpacks with essential school supplies for students. Awards & Accolades 3. Andrew Bloom, founder of BVO Luxury Group and a longtime partner of Fidelity National Title Agency, recently celebrated 30 years in Arizona real estate. Bloom has closed more than 3,000 transactions totaling $1.6B in volume. He was inducted into…

Sales Transactions 1. Cushman & Wakefield announced it advised the sale of Desert Cove Industrial Center, a newly constructed 168KSF industrial property at 11301 N. Litchfield Road in Surprise. The building was delivered in June 2024 by Evergreen Development. An affiliate of Cohen Asset Management, Inc. acquired the property for $36.3M. Will Strong, Molly Hunt, Michael Matchett, Jack Stamets and Madeline Warren of C&W represented the seller. C&W’s Brian Share and Garrett Stasand advised on acquisition financing. John Werstler, Cooper Fratt and Tanner Ferrandi of CBRE provided market leasing advisory. 2. Denali Apartments LLC purchased the Seventh apartment community at…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX With implementation of the Maricopa County Proposition 479 half-cent transportation sales tax set to begin at the start of next year, carrying on the previous funding from the expiring Proposition 400, the Maricopa Association of Governments is working to finalize its Arterial Life Cycle Program. The ALCP is a reimbursement-based program funded entirely by Prop 479 revenues. Policies for the program were developed by MAG’s ALCP Working Group and approved by the MAG Regional Council in March. Programming for the ALCP is spread across five phases, covering, and even looking beyond, Prop 479’s 20-year lifespan.…

By Arizona Department of Transportation The Arizona Department of Transportation‘s study of passenger rail between the Phoenix and Tucson areas is ready to take an important step forward. The Federal Railroad Administration has approved ADOT’s submissions in the first step of the Corridor Identification and Development Program: a scope, schedule and budget for preparing a Service Development Plan that will outline key elements necessary for establishing passenger rail service. Work on the Service Development Plan can begin after approval of a federal grant, which is expected in the coming weeks. Completing the Service Development Plan is expected to take two…

Owner IHG Hotels & Resorts is undertaking a $5.5M upgrade of the luxury Kimpton Hotel Palomar Phoenix on East Jefferson Street downtown. All 242 rooms will be renovated, including the hotel’s 27 suites. The guest common areas are part of the renovation project, which is planned to improve the guest experience and expand the “urban retreat experience,” according to hotel representatives. Beleco Design was chosen to design the guest room improvements, which include updated furnishing, curated artwork, an enhanced minibar and upgraded bathrooms. Renovations will progress floor-by-floor to allow the hotel to remain in operation during construction and not disrupt…

Awards & Accolades 1. The Trailhead, a 40-acre mixed-use development at 83rd Avenue and Happy Valley Road in Peoria, was named Retail Project of the Year by the Arizona chapter of NAIOP. Developed by Pederson Group, with Butler Design Group as the designer and Campbell Development as the contractor, the $100M-plus project includes 140KSF of retail anchored by a 63KSF Safeway, a 350-unit multifamily complex and a church. The site also features bike paths, pedestrian links and gathering spaces designed to connect with nearby neighborhoods and Sunrise Mountain Preserve. Groundbreakings 2. Legacy Partners has broken ground on Olea Scottsdale, a…

A compromise between Republican legislators and Gov. Katie Hobbs could free up water rights to develop hundreds of thousands of new homes in Maricopa and Pinal counties, with the possibility of also including Pima County under additional measures. The so-called “ag to urban” agreement would let homebuilders purchase water rights to agricultural lands from farmers who retire the properties if the developers promise to use only a given percentage of the water previously used on the farms for supplying the new housing. Several housing development plans, particularly in Pinal County and suburbs west of Phoenix, have stalled due to water…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX As Maricopa County continues to adjust to the influx of new residents, employers and visitors that have come in the last several years, road capacity has struggled to keep up. This, along with a philosophical opposition to light rail/mass transit, was one of the planks in the Arizona Legislature’s protracted fight to scuttle, and ultimately significantly revise, the draft legislation that finally led to the ballot measure County voters were ultimately presented with to approve the renewal of the half-cent transportation tax for another 20 years last November. Our coverage of that issue is available…

By BEX Staff for AZBEX After owner Arcus Private Capital Solutions requested an indefinite continuance late last year to reevaluate water restrictions on its planned Rittenhouse Commons II 166-lot housing development, the issue was brought back to the Queen Creek Town Council for a vote June 18. The developer had requested and been granted a rezoning from commercial to medium-density residential for 16.5 acres at the NEC of Sossaman and Rittenhouse roads in June 2023 for a for-sale townhome development. An amendment to a planned area development overlay was submitted and recommended by the Planning Commission last October and will…