Author: BEX Staff

Construction plans have been submitted in Yuma for a $6.7M, 122-room Everhome Suites Hotel to be built at the SWC of Pacific Avenue and 18th Street. The four-story hotel under the Choice Hotels flag will feature apartment-style rooms in studio and one-bedroom suite floorplans. Rooms will feature full-sized refrigerators and fully-equipped kitchens. Planned amenities include an outdoor pool and recreation features, a multipurpose lobby, fitness centers and on-site laundry facilities. (Source) 

A plan by the Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene to develop an indoor sports complex and an outdoor sports field around its campus at the NEC of Calle Concordia and Calle Buena Vista has encountered fierce resident opposition and is entering its fourth year of arguments and revisions. While OVCN has approximately doubled in size since 2015, it has been in its current location since 1979, predating nearly all the current area residents. The church has expanded twice since then and bought the 10 acres for the new sports site in 2020. That property is currently zoned for rural…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX Earlier this month, the Avondale Planning Commission recommended City Council approve a rezoning request to create a 45-acre mixed use development known as The District at Crystal Springs at the SWC of Avondale Blvd. and McDowell Road. The site is currently zoned Planned Area Development under the 90-acre Crystal Springs PAD from 1999. Half of that area has been developed with residences and a school. The updated PAD for the District at Crystal Springs will replace the easternmost 45 acres for “healthcare, commercial, residential and hospitality uses within a horizontal mixed-use environment,” according to the…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX Ever since former Gov. Doug Ducey inexplicably vetoed popular bipartisan legislation last July that would have sent the Proposition 400 half-cent transportation sales tax to voters for renewal, AZBEX and BEX Companies have continued to follow the issue with extensive coverage in the magazine and at our industry events. One factor we touched on in an October issue and at our Public Works Conference was the ripple effect the veto caused for a number of projects that had already been in planning and development. Most notably, we reported how the veto sidelined the final design…

U.S. District Court Judge John Hinderaker has allowed a challenge to plans for Interstate 11—the 280-mile roadway intended to run from Nogales to Wickenburg—to proceed. Hinderaker rejected arguments from the Federal Highway Administration and Arizona Department of Transportation that legal objections to the plan were premature, with FHWA arguing that final decisions on the road’s route had not been made yet. The ruling found that FHWA had already concluded two national monuments did not qualify for consideration under federal law that would require consideration whether the highway should be placed somewhere else. The judge also found there was no analysis…

Awards & Accolades 1. Business Facilities has announced the Arizona Commerce Authority as one of four winners of its first Economic Development Award in the State category. According to the announcement, the award recognizes efforts to attract “record-breaking projects and creating new pockets of economic growth.” ACA was specifically cited for its efforts in attracting semiconductor industry investment and pioneering innovative workforce solutions. Boards & Commissions 2. The Greater Phoenix Chapter of the International Facilities Management Association recently elected new officers. Monisa (MJ) Nagarajan Gomathi, Facilities Project Manager with Terracon, was elected to her first term as President. The other officers were: …

Sales Transactions 1. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Inc. (Tolleson Owner LLC) has paid $165M for GO | 99, a nearly 1.3M, three-building industrial park at the SEC of 99th Avenue and Buckeye Road. The park was developed and sold by George Oliver’s GO Industrial (South 99th Avenue LP). Cushman & Wakefield’s Will Strong, Phil Haenel, Kirk Kuller, Molly Hunt, Micki Strain and Foster Bundy, represented the seller. The transaction marks the largest industrial sale, by dollar amount, to date in 2023.  2. Cushman & Wakefield has advised US Capital Development in the sale of a newly constructed 599.5KSF Class…

The Maricopa Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended a planned area development rezoning request for the Kelly Ranch residential community for approval by City Council. The approximately 100-acre site at the SEC of Porter Road and Maricopa-Casa-Grande Highway had previously been planned as a single-family development by K. Hovnanian Homes. Under the new plan from Cowley Companies, the PAD zoning will allow for the development of 96 Build-to-Rent units and 240 traditional single-family homes. Construction is planned in three phases, with the BTR section coming first, followed by two phases of single-family development. Potential amenities could include several small parks,…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX “What are the facts? Again and again and again – what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what “the stars foretell,” avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable “verdict of history” – what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!” – Robert Heinlein A May 21 op-ed in the Arizona Republic entitled, “Why building ‘affordable’ units only makes Phoenix’s housing crisis worse,” makes masterful use of the data chosen…

By BEX Staff for AZBEX Both the Phoenix North Mountain Village Planning Commission and the City Planning Commission have recommended approval of a rezoning request to allow the development of a 108KSF self-storage facility by Lock Safe Self Storage at the SWC of 49th Drive and Cactus Road. Phoenix City Council will consider the request in June. Officials with project representative Upfront Planning & Entitlements, Inc. said in an announcement the project had met frequently with neighbors to address ongoing concerns about uses for the site and to generate support for the proposal. Lock Safe’s plan for the approximately three-acre…