Author: BEX Staff

Following voters’ rejection of Proposition 469 last year, which would have funded road projects through the Pinal Regional Transportation Authority via a half-cent sales tax, Pinal County leaders are reaching out to see what voters would be willing to pay for. In the November election, voters in areas where big-ticket projects were planned tended to vote in favor, while those in other areas voted overwhelmingly against them. Leaders hope to hold a number of meetings and outreach sessions to develop a unified transportation plan to cover road maintenance and construction tailored to communities across the area. A current 25-year half-cent…

The Goodyear Planning and Zoning Commission met recently to discuss transportation infrastructure upgrades that could total more than $476M. Goodyear has seen significant growth since its last transportation master plan update in 2014, according to Transportation Planning Manager Chris Bridges. Among the challenges presented by that growth have been an overall increase in commercial trucking and increased traffic volumes on Camelback Road. A set of roadway improvements for Camelback between the Loop 303 freeway and 152nd Avenue is in the design stage. Another growth-related problem has been the general increase in traffic, particularly on two-lane roads such as Cotton Lane…

Awards & Accolades 1. Mattamy Homes’ Saguaro Trails community in Tucson was recently recognized as the Community of the Year at the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association 2022 Awards. Groundbreakings 2. SkyBridge Arizona broke ground on SkyBridge Building 109, the developer’s latest addition to its 435-acre mixed-use project immediately adjacent to the runway at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in Mesa. Building 109 is the first of two 250KSF, Class A manufacturing/warehouse/logistics buildings that SkyBridge plans to break ground on at Gateway Airport during the first half of this year 3. Trilogy Investment Company, in a joint venture partnership with Cimbra Partners LLC (through its subsidiary Cimbra Investors Encanto, LLC)…

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, Councilmember Sal DiCiccio and City Manager Jeff Barton have teamed up to secure a place in the 2023-2024 capital budget for a new fire station in Ahwatukee. Fire Station 74 will be built on the NWC of 19th Avenue and Chandler Blvd. The station will be between 12KSF and 13KSF and have three bays with a fire engine and a medical rescue vehicle. Upon opening, Station 74 will be crewed by a staff that will start at the training academy in the coming fiscal year because the funds in the 2023-2024 operating budget include $3M per…

The Goodyear Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended approval of Globe Corporation’s request to rezone a vacant 153-acre site in downtown Goodyear for a mix of residential and commercial uses. The City Council will take up the measure and a new development agreement with the company at its Feb. 27 meeting. If approved, the rezoning will create the GSQ Regional Center Planned Area Development. Globe completed the new GEN-1 office building and parking garage in the Goodyear Civic Square at Estrella Falls master plan last year. The pending request seeks to rezone the new site’s prior Planned Area Development, which…

The Surprise Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended approval of a General Plan Amendment necessary for BNSF Railway’s plans for a hub facility on 3,500 acres near Wittman. The Commission voted 6-1 to recommend changing the site’s character from Neighborhood to Employment. The request will now advance to City Council, where it must pass by a two-thirds margin. If the amendment is approved, BSNF will be able to file for rezoning and annexation for the site near 219th Avenue and U.S. 60. BSNF plans to develop a regional rail facility that will feature warehousing and distribution as well as transfer…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX The Scottsdale City Council has authorized $10M in General Fund monies to cover cost overruns for the City’s planned Fire Department training facility. The project was originally approved as one of 58 in the 2019 $319M bond package. At the time, it was specified to include a 10KSF facility. That size was much smaller than the project’s actual need, and the planned space was expanded to 27KSF last year, and the conference room seating was expanded from 100 to 171, with another $5M added to the $18M originally estimated in 2018 to cover the changes.…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX Arizona’s construction employment sector is projected to grow 0.7% in 2023, according to newly released data from the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity. Statewide employment growth across all sectors is expected to grow 1.4% for the year, with 10 of the 11 sectors tracked predicted to post gains. Only Financial Activities is expected to report job losses in 2023, with OEO expecting a decrease of 0.6% Construction reported 194,733 jobs as of Q2 2022, an annual percent change of 5.4%. The Q4 2020 number was 179,026 jobs. The Office projects Q2 2024 to hit 197,613…

The 23-mile project to add flex lanes on I-17 north of Phoenix is more than $76M over budget. The project remains on schedule, however. In a budget presentation by Gov. Katie Hobbs, she mentioned the overrun and asked for a review of potential savings on other Arizona Department of Transportation projects that could be used to offset the cost increase. The bid price for the project was $446M. ADOT says the total cost is now set at $522M. ADOT cites three contributors to the cost increase. The first is a federal change in environmental requirements. Changes from the Army Corps…

By Associated Builders and Contractors Construction input prices rose 1.3% in January, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data. Nonresidential construction input prices increased 1.1% for the month. Overall construction input prices are 4.9% higher than a year ago, which is the smallest annual increase since January 2021. Nonresidential construction input prices are also up 4.9% since January 2022. “Recent employment and retail sales reports indicate that the economy is not slowing nearly as quickly as predicted,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “That is the good news.…