Author: BEX Staff

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.…

Giving Back 1. Arizona REALTORS are deeply involved in charitable efforts around the state. The group has contributed $15K to help non-profits build and maintain low-income and working-poor housing. The Central Arizona Association of REALTORS also supports a food drive for the St. Vincent de Paul and the Pine Strawberry Food Bank, donating $1 for every pound of food the food bank collects in its donation boxes. Lastly, CAAR provides $2,500 scholarships to seniors graduating from its local high school.   2. The Girls Can Build initiative is celebrating its first anniversary with the purchase of a vehicle for its Mobile…

Sales Transactions 1. The Buckeye City Council has approved the purchase agreement of a one-acre parcel of land in the Harquahala Valley. The purchase of this land, and the associated water rights that come with it, allows the City to expand its water portfolio with the addition of a new water source. The property includes an annual allocation of 5,926 acre-feet of water for 100 years. Council authorized $80M for the purchase in 2022.  2. Avanti Residential has sold the 193-unit Dwell Apartment Homes near Scottsdale and McDowell roads for $41.6M to 29th Street Capital. Steve Gebing and Cliff David with…

A planned 90-unit affordable housing development is stirring tensions between Chicanos Por La Causa and historic preservation advocates in Mesa. CPLC’s for-profit development arm purchased the former Kiva Lodge at 668 W. Main Street and neighboring sites with plans to demolish the former motel to build the new project. The Kiva makes up approximately 17% of the overall site. The lodge is one of the oldest in the state and its neon sign has been a popular photographic curiosity for decades. The inn declined in its later years and was a human smuggling and drug site. Before CPLC bought the…

The Arizona Court of Appeals has thrown out an appeal from opposition group Voice of Surprise that sought to stop Dominium Management’s master-planned affordable housing development Waddell Crossing. The group had filed a petition appealing the City Council’s approval of the development and calling for a referendum. The development will create standard affordable housing units, senior affordable housing units and a self-storage facility at Waddell Road and Cotton Lane. The petition had more than 5,000 signatures but was rejected by the City because it failed to comply with state law by not attaching a copy of the title and text…

Plans to demolish an aging church near 7th Avenue and Fillmore Street and replace it with a 122-unit apartment development have some nearby residents concerned about history. Trumont Group is under contract to buy the Mercy Hill Church for its planned apartment development. The church plans to use the funds from the sale to build a new facility nearby on land it also owns. Along with funding the new location, church officials say the existing building has fallen into disrepair and would take between $2M and $4M to restore. They want to avoid the burden of trying to keep up…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX Compass Datacenters is proposing a new data center development called Compass PHX II and consisting of three buildings of 208KSF each at the SWC of El Mirage Road and Peoria Avenue in El Mirage. The proposed buildings are 30-foot, single story structures of precast concrete building shells. Each building will have an exterior equipment yard to house power and cooling equipment for the data centers. According to the project description, the equipment yards are larger than the data center buildings’ footprint and will be adjacent to the building’s rear wall. A loop center road configuration…

Plans to demolish an aging church near 7th Avenue and Fillmore Street and replace it with a 122-unit apartment development have some nearby residents concerned about history. Trumont Group is under contract to buy the Mercy Hill Church for its planned apartment development. The church plans to use the funds from the sale to build a new facility nearby on land it also owns. Along with funding the new location, church officials say the existing building has fallen into disrepair and would take between $2M and $4M to restore. They want to avoid the burden of trying to keep up…