Author: BEX Staff

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX As Scottsdale continues winding down its increasingly anti-multifamily development path, its latest flagship fight continues to heat up. Axon Enterprise, Inc. one of the city’s largest employers, has proposed a 400KSF-plus corporate headquarters/manufacturing facility and a nearly 1.6MSF corporate campus on approximately 57 acres near Hayden Road and Mayo Blvd. in north Scottsdale. In addition to the headquarters facility, the plan calls for nearly 1,900 apartment and condominium units, five retail buildings of up to five floors each, another three-story retail building, a 435-room hotel and seven restaurants. The campus investment is estimated at $1.3B…

By Roland Murphy The 2024 BEX Leading Market Series Higher Education Capital Projects event took a slightly different turn this year with a primary focus on current and upcoming projects from Arizona State University and market trend insights from leading design firm Architekton. The event took place this week at SkySong in Scottsdale with a panel comprised of: Cassie Saba (Robertson), SW Regional Prefab Leader at DPR Construction (Moderator); Tom Lyons, Assistant VP, Capital Programs Management Group at ASU, and Rachel G. Rasmussen, Partner at Architekton. After brief introductions from BEX Founder and President Rebekah Morris and Moderator Saba, Lyons…

A City of Flagstaff planner presented a proposal for a new site for a U.S. federal courthouse at 1535 W. Route 66 during a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. If built, this would be the first federal courthouse in northern Arizona. Currently, if a Flagstaff resident is summoned to jury duty in a federal case, they must travel out of the area. A new federal courthouse would prevent that circumstance. The proposed courthouse would be approximately 38.4KSF on an approximately 4.1-acre site. The three-story building would include offices, meeting spaces and two courtrooms. The first floor would consist of meeting…

In a 5-0 vote, the Yuma Planning and Zoning Commission has approved a conditional use permit that will enable the construction of 12 two-story multifamily-style buildings on 8.14 acres at the SWC of East 30th Street and Avenue 6E. Avila Construction submitted the request on behalf of Tanimura and Antle CA General Partnership. The 183 two-bedroom units can house up to 1,464 people and will be provided for the exclusive use of farmworkers employed during the September-February harvesting season. Some nearby residents had expressed concern about potential traffic impacts, particularly upon access and egress for a nearby RV park. Tanimura…

By Associated Builders and Contractors Associated Builders and Contractors reported its Construction Backlog Indicator remained unchanged at 8.4 months in November, according to an ABC member survey conducted November 20th to December 3rd. The reading is down 0.1 months from November 2023. Backlog in the infrastructure category contracted in November, though it is still the only category with higher backlog on a year-over-year basis. ABC’s Construction Confidence Index readings for sales, profit margins and staffing levels improved in November. The readings for all three components remain above the threshold of 50, indicating expectations for growth over the next six months.…

Groundbreakings 1. VIVO Development Partners has broken ground on Tempo by Hilton and Homewood Suites by Hilton located at Gallery Park in Mesa. Tempo by Hilton features 97 “lifestyle” rooms, while Homewood Suites by Hilton offers 77 extended stay suites. Gallery Park is a 1MSF-plus mixed-use walkable village. 2. The City of Tempe and its development partners broke ground on La Victoria Commons. The development on the NEC of Apache Blvd. and Price Freeway consists of two affordable housing developments. The first is a 104-unit multi-story apartment community, while the second is a set of 19 for-sale townhomes. The project…

The Maricopa City Council is allowing City Manager Ben Bitter to pursue grant money for Redevco Solutions’ $1.4B SMARTRail park along Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway. The rail park is a part of Maricopa’s Industrial Triangle project. Large projects with vast economic impacts typically seek grants and need a government entity to serve as designees. City Manager Ben Bitter was granted executive authority to pursue the grants. The potential economic impact of the Industrial Triangle has been widely discussed since a call for bids was announced in July of this year. Upon release of the bids, City officials noted two companies interested…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX – BEXclusive The Glendale Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to hear two unrelated, but similar, requests this week that, if ultimately approved and built, will add more than 1MSF of new industrial construction to the City’s inventory. Both properties are currently zoned for commercial uses under existing planned area development designations, have failed to develop under their current zoning, have sat vacant, and have owners requesting new PADs that they hope will spur development. Peoria & 303 The first request would change the zoning for a 72.16-gross-acre site at the SWC of Sarival and…

Once a notion so contentious it sparked a lawsuit and a series of hostile back-and-forth exchanges, the cities of Tempe and Phoenix have now come to an agreement that will allow the eventual development of apartments on land near Priest Drive and Rio Salado Parkway. The 46-acre site was once planned for a major mixed-use development and arena as home for the Arizona Coyotes. Tempe City Council approved the proposal, but Phoenix was strongly opposed, citing the potential for future negative impacts on Phoenix-Sky Harbor International Airport operations. Phoenix sued to stop the development. Following an organized public resistance campaign,…

By Arizona Department of Transportation The Arizona Department of Transportation announced an Executive Leadership Team to guide the continued study of potential passenger rail service between the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas. The group is composed of the Governor’s Office, ADOT and metropolitan planning organizations for Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties: the Maricopa Association of Governments, Pima Association of Governments and Sun Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization. One of Gov. Katie Hobbs’ first actions as Governor was securing $3.5M in one-time funding to support the development of a service plan for this transformative project. The funding will position Arizona to leverage…