Author: BEX Staff

Giving Back 1. The PENTA Building Group has wrapped up its 19th annual Safety Kick-Off. The tour engaged thousands of construction experts and hosted a wide array of safety vendors. PENTA made stops at venues in Scottsdale, Anaheim and Rohnert Park, Calif., and Henderson, Nev. Boards & Commissions 2. Benjamin Bitter, City Manager for the City of Maricopa, was elected President of the Arizona City/County Management Association, a statewide organization supporting professional local government managers. Bitter began his term this month and will serve as President through January 2027, followed by an additional year on the board as Past President…

Sales Transactions 1. Principal Financial Group acquired Biltmore at Camelback, a 270-unit multifamily property in Phoenix, from Heitman for $97.3M. Heitman purchased the four-story community in 2014 for $74.75M. The property was built in 2013 and features units ranging from 628SF to 1.1KSF. 2. Southern Arizona Logistics Center Building #2, a 435KSF industrial facility in Marana, sold for $50.46M in an investment sale to lease. ET Marana V LLC, an affiliate of ElmTree Funds, purchased the concrete tilt-up warehouse at 10070 W. Clark Farm Blvd. from Southern Arizona Logistics Center LLC, an affiliate of Flint Development. The building sits on…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX The dominant theme and mood for the Arizona construction market heading into 2025 was uncertainty. Major changes in federal policies, expected shifts in population growth, nearly every economic indicator up in the air, increases in organized resistance to projects and a range of other trend factors made forecasting the sector’s direction in the year ahead as much an exercise in prognostication as informed projection. A new theme emerged in preparing for the 2026 BEX Construction Activity Forecast Event: Resilience. Since the collapse of the Great Recession, the construction market in general—and the Arizona construction market…

State Representative Chris Lopez says he wants to increase private investment and modernize infrastructure in Pinal County and across Arizona. Lopez is a leading proponent of House Bill 2824, which would establish a Commercial Property Assessed Capital Expenditure Program in the state. C-PACE lets local governments provide financing for commercial and industrial properties to let property owners improve resiliency and resource efficiency and fund upgrades to infrastructure. The program relies on private investment. Local governments would establish voluntary assessment agreements with property owners and determine improvements eligible for financing. These could include investments in energy systems, water/wastewater infrastructure, logistics development,…

By BEX Staff for AZBEX Developer Dominium has acquired the site for its planned 400-unit affordable housing multifamily development in Goodyear. The acquisition price for the nearly 17-acre site near the SEC of Lower Buckeye Road and Bullard Avenue was not disclosed. Media reports note Dominium’s partners in the development of Vivir at Ballpark Village reportedly include Freddie Mac, Capital One, U.S. Bank, Barclays and the Arizona Industrial Development Authority. The company has not disclosed expected project costs or a timeline. Updates in the DATABEX project database show a civil permit was filed in December 2025 and was still in…

A bill introduced for consideration in the Arizona State Legislature could provide millions of dollars in tax incentives to encourage affordable housing development in rural counties. Rep. Teresa Martinez’s House Bill 2804 would create a state tax credit program similar to the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Projects would be limited to those in counties with populations of fewer than 800,000 residents. Maricopa and Pima counties would be excluded. The proposition would allocate a maximum of $2M in annual credits between 2026 and 2036 to help finance new developments. Those credits could go toward income taxes or insurance premium taxes.…

Awards & Accolades 1. Achen-Gardner Construction received two 2026 Build Arizona Awards from the Arizona Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America in the Municipal Reconstruction category. The honored projects were the City of Chandler’s Detroit Basin/Gazelle Meadows Park Storm System CMAR and the Town of Queen Creek’s Crismon Road Widening – Riggs Road to Cloud Road CMAR. Groundbreakings 2. The McCain Institute recently broke ground on the McCain Library and Museum in Tempe. The facility will be on more than 22 acres, north of Tempe Town Lake. The more than 80KSF facility is being developed in partnership with…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX A requested stipulation change to a 2021 zoning approval could bring a new, four-story, 114-room hotel to the master-planned development area of 29th Avenue & Sonoran Desert Drive in north Phoenix. AZBEX was the first outlet to report on the 29th & Sonoran Desert Master Plan proposal. (AZBEX; Nov. 9, 2021) The original rezoning request for the 40-acre site included plans for 360 traditional apartments, 259 for-rent townhomes and 26KSF of commercial space, which included three restaurants with drive-thrus and a fourth use to be named later. Current documents show the commercial component plan has…

By Associated Builders and Contractors Construction input prices decreased 0.6% in December compared to the previous month, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data. Nonresidential construction input prices decreased 0.7% for the month. Overall construction input prices are 2.8% higher than a year ago, while nonresidential construction input prices are 3.2% higher. Prices increased in two of three energy categories last month. Natural gas and unprocessed energy materials prices were up 34.8% and 5.5%, respectively, while crude petroleum prices were down 2.7% in December. “Construction materials prices posted a…

A $32.8M replacement for the Sabino Canyon Visitor Center is gathering momentum. Initial plans call for a single building of up to 29KSF and a parking lot expansion that will replace the existing nine buildings, nearly tripling the available floor space and adding up to 122 parking slots. The project will also add desert landscaping, sustainability features and dedicated walking paths. The nonprofit Friends of Sabino Canyon and the Coronado National Forest are working together on the project. Sabino Canyon Visitor Center Reimagined will include interactive displays, dedicated exhibit space, Forest Service office space, a multipurpose room, and a gift…