Author: BEX Staff

By BEX Staff for AZBEX SimonCRE announced it has closed on the land purchase for the upcoming development of Elm Street at Surprise City Center. The development will bring a total of more than 70KSF of mixed-use commercial space to the growing civic center in the heart of Surprise’s downtown area. The center, which sits at Bullard and Bell, will provide a range of new retail, restaurant and entertainment options, as well as two stories of office space, as the developer gets ready to start construction on the first phase of the major development. SimonCRE shared that the preleasing activity…

The Mohave County Planning and Zoning Commission will consider a major plan amendment and several rezoning requests for the Entrata master plan project from Nevada developer Al Barbarich. The site is located approximately 25 miles south of Hoover Dam and the Nevada border. Barbarich has been buying land in the area since 2005 and owns the property outright with no debt. The master plan includes manufacturing, other industrial, residential and airport uses, which project representative Kathy Tackett-Hicks of Kingman called “a huge economic revenue enhancer for the county and the region.” Barbarich said development will occur over multiple decades and…

The Queen Creek Town Council is scheduled to vote this week on two measures that will help pay for required infrastructure improvements in support of the planned LG Energy Solution battery manufacturing plant at the NEC of Germann Road and Ironwood Drive. Under a development agreement with LGES, Queen Creek will widen existing roads, build new roads and improve water and sewer infrastructure at the site. The total cost of the infrastructure improvements in support of the planned $5.5B battery plant is estimated at $84M. Queen Creek has already incurred approximately $12M in expenditures. The plant has not yet started…

By LGE Design Build LGE Design Build has released its Q3 Construction Delivery Outlook report to examine trends within construction labor, supply chain and material costs across the country as well as in the company’s key markets of Phoenix and Dallas. “Despite the lingering challenges created by the pandemic, our report highlights the resiliency of the construction industry and provides reason to be optimistic for the future,” said Blake Wells, VP of preconstruction at LGE Design Build. “Construction continues to thrive in Dallas-Fort Worth, driven by the rise of healthcare, education, immersive entertainment venues and tenant improvement projects… In Phoenix,…

Groundbreakings 1. Pattern Energy has begun construction on the 550-mile $10B SunZia transmission system that will start from central New Mexico and go through more populated areas of Arizona and California with an estimated capability of transporting more than 3,500MW of new wind power. 2. W.E. O’Neil just started construction on the Garfield Phase II project, a 60-unit concrete podium multifamily housing project in downtown Phoenix. The project is being developed by Pennrose Development and designed by Dekker Perich Sabatini. The complex will provide affordable housing to veterans in the community. 3. City of Phoenix has started construction on Phase…

By BEX Staff for AZBEX (NOT BEXCLUSIVE) EdgeConneX has filed a new plan to build a data center campus in east Mesa near Loop 202 and Elliot Road. Local media reports say the company is requesting administrative and design reviews for a multi-phase development with three data hall buildings and an electrical substation on 93 acres in the Elliot Road Technology Corridor. If fully built out, the total area would exceed 1.17MSF, according to the project narrative. Phase I would be a one-level 180KSF data hall (called the north wing), two electrical power blocks, a two-level/53.1KSF administrative core and the…

With General Motors’ recent announcement that it plans to close the Arizona IT Innovation Center, and other prominent moveouts in the area, some market watchers are expressing concerns about the state of Chandler’s Price Road Corridor. Sam Kapur of Arizona Elite Commercial presented his worries to the Chandler Chamber of Commerce Economic Update session on Aug. 24, noting GM has joined PayPal and Liberty Mutual as recognizable occupants that have left the area. He estimated nearly 1MSF of vacancy in the Corridor. He added many buildings have been vacant for years, with tenants in place but without being occupied, in…

The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled former Surprise City Clerk Sherry Aguilar overstepped her authority in rejecting signatures for a referendum petition opposing an approved affordable housing development. After Surprise City Council approved Dominium Management’s vociferously contested plan for a master-planned affordable and senior living development known as Truman Ranch Marketplace near Cotton Lane and Waddell Road, the organized opposition group Voice of Surprise submitted a petition with more than 5,400 signatures in Sept. 2022 to force the issue onto a referendum ballot. Aguilar, who has since retired as City Clerk, rejected all the signatures because VoS did not attach…

The Town of Gilbert is not getting all the revenues it should from the Heritage District redevelopment area, according to a planning and economic development analyst. Joe Minicozzi of Urban3D told the Town Council in a special meeting last month that the best way to add taxable revenue dollars is to increase building heights, particularly in sought-after areas like the Heritage District. Downtown Gilbert has a height limit of just 55 feet, and developers have faced significant hurdles getting projects approved, Minicozzi said, even though those projects generate the most value for the Town. He used a project he had…

By Colliers in Arizona The Greater Phoenix retail market vacancy level hit a historic low 4.8% at the end of June, reflecting strong tenant demand in one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities, according to a report released by Colliers in Arizona. Data from Affinity Solutions indicates Phoenix has experienced a 16.5% increase in all consumer spending since January 2020. During Q2, retail vacancy fell 40 basis points, which was a 130 basis point decrease year-over-year. This marked the 12th consecutive quarter that vacancy has decreased. Eight out of nine geographic submarkets in the city posted retail vacancy decreases year-over-year. Downtown…