Author: BEX Staff

By City of Chandler The Chandler City Council adopted the provisions of a development agreement and purchase agreement between One Chandler Owner, LLC and the City of Chandler at their meeting on Oct. 27. The agreement is for the sale and redevelopment of nearly 1.7 acres of City-owned property located at the NEC of Arizona Avenue and Buffalo Street, known as Site 7. This parcel is currently vacant and used for parking. In December 2021, Jackson Dearborn Partners, now known as One Chandler Owner, LLC, acquired the parcels immediately north and adjacent to Site 7. The City Council directed staff…

By Rebekah Morris for AZBEX Late last month, UMB Bank provided notice that Legacy Cares has officially defaulted on a series of tax-exempt bonds that were meant to fund the Bell Bank Park construction project. While that has been widely reported (examples here and here), the fact that more than a dozen local contractors have not yet been paid on a project that completed construction back in Jan. 2022 has been mostly just a sidenote. While most stories quote the project cost at $280M, the primary construction contracts were substantially less than that. Roughly $130M between contracts were issued to…

By Associated Builders and Contractors The construction industry had 422,000 job openings in September, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors’ analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. JOLTS defines a job opening as any unfilled position for which an employer is actively recruiting. Industry job openings increased by 36,000 last month and are up 74,000 from a year ago. Construction workers quit their jobs at a lower rate than they were laid off or discharged for the first time since February 2021. “Given healthy Construction Backlog Indicator levels and elevated Construction…

Groundbreakings 1. The Howard Hughes Corporation has broken ground on Teravalis, a 37,000-acre mixed-use master planned community in the West Valley projected to include 100,000 homes and 55MSF of commercial development. Teravalis, previously known as Douglas Ranch, will become Arizona’s largest master planned community. 2. Greenlight Communities has broken ground on Streamliner 67th – a 292-unit affordable housing development at 67th Avenue and McDowell Road. The community is being developed as a joint venture with Stockbridge. 3. Construction preparations are underway for a $14M expansion at the Abrazo Arrowhead Campus in Glendale. The 8.5KSF addition will expand the neonatal unit from 21 beds to…

By Arizona Department of Transportation The Arizona Department of Transportation will host a virtual public meeting Nov. 2 to provide information about a future project to add lanes and make other improvements along Loop 101 (Pima Freeway) between Princess Drive and Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale. The project will add one general purpose lane along that section of the Pima Freeway while also making changes to improve traffic flow at the Shea Boulevard, Raintree Drive, Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard and Princess Drive interchanges. Construction is expected to begin by late 2023 and take approximately two years to complete. ADOT’s virtual public…

A bond measure soon to come before Flagstaff voters could add $20M to the City’s efforts to increase affordable housing. One of two General Obligation bonds on the Flagstaff November ballot, Proposition 442 is intended to fund four projects that will increase the number of affordable rental units and expand the first-time homebuyers’ assistance program. The other bond measure – Proposition 441 – focuses on fire, flood and wastewater infrastructure efforts. The two measures have a combined cost of slightly more than $125M. The Flagstaff City Council approved adding the measures to the ballot in June, following recommendations from the…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX Multi-format developer IDM Companies is requesting two Planned Unit Developments from the City of Phoenix for locations near 59th Avenue in Laveen Village. The first request is for a 63.52-acre parcel at the SEC of Elliot Road and the future 59th Avenue alignment where IDM plans a mixed-use horizontal development that will include light industrial, office, commercial and residential on a site that is currently vacant agricultural. The second covers an 80-acre site – also currently vacant agricultural – at the SWC of 63rd Avenue and Dobbins Road where the company plans an industrial/commerce park.…

Two major road projects have been put on hold in the midst of a funding shortfall and dispute between the City of Tucson and the Regional Transportation Authority. The Tucson City Council voted Oct. 18 to delay the projects Houghton Road from Broadway to Tanque Verde Road and 22nd Street from I-10 to Kino Parkway. Eleven Tucson projects are embroiled in a funding shortfall of between $130M and $170M faced by the RTA. Voters approved a half-cent sales tax in 2006 for $1.9B of infrastructure projects in Pima County, but the 11 projects in Tucson are not yet fully funded.…

By Associated Builders and Contractors The U.S. economy expanded at a 2.6% annualized rate in the third quarter of 2022, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Investment in nonresidential structures decreased at an annual rate of 15.3% for the quarter and has now contracted in 10 of the past 12 quarters. “Today’s GDP report could be considered the calm before the storm,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Growth is likely to slow significantly going forward, but for now, the U.S. economy continues to expand as consumers keep…

Awards & Accolades 1. National publication Insurance Journal named INSURICA the Best Independent Agency to Work For in America following their annual survey of employees. The publication revealed the honor in their October 2022 issue. More than 3,500 customer service representatives responded to their survey. While INSURICA regularly appears on IJ’s list of vote getters, 2022 was the first time the agency appeared at the top of the list. Boards & Commissions 2. James P. Robertson of Realty Executives Arizona Territory in Tucson has been elected to serve on the 2023-2025 Certified Commercial Investment Member Institutes Board of Directors, 2023…