Author: BEX Staff

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX At the request of developer Banyan Residential, the Apache Junction Planning and Zoning Commission continued a hearing scheduled for April 28 and moved it to May. The hearing had been scheduled to discuss a set of requested condition changes and rezoning for a proposed 146-unit affordable housing multifamily development on roughly seven acres near the SEC of North Rennick Drive and West Virginia Street. The Banyan Rennick & Virginia site had previously been zoned High Density Multiple-Family Residential for a development called The Enclave on Rennick that never took place. Banyan has evaluated the site…

Another planned parking project in Scottsdale is raising questions. A controversial parking garage development at 1st Street and Brown Avenue in Old Town had caused bitter infighting among the Mayor and City Council, as well as between residents, for more than a year. A contract for the project was approved in the April 14 meeting. In the same meeting, Council also approved a $9M project that will add 200 parking spaces across the street from Scottsdale Airport. The nature of the project had some observers confused. Access Capital/Inspired Healthcare Capital paid $8.4M for the 1.5-acre site with a two-story office…

A newly proposed budget shaves $800M off the initial plan proposed by Gov. Katie Hobbs. One of the largest targets of the cuts is the City of Tucson’s Rio Nuevo economic development program. The program currently receives $19M in diverted state sales taxes to incentivize business and residential growth in Tucson. In total, the cuts are expected to remove nearly $100M in state economic development projects. The Republican lawmakers pushing the budget said it will save $4M in the future and divert $63M currently in the fund’s account to balance the state budget. The legislators, who argue the funding is…

Awards & Accolades 1. Grand Canyon National Park Airport in Tusayan was named the 2026 Airport of the Year by the Arizona Department of Transportation Aeronautics Group following completion of a $12M runway renovation project in 2025. Improvements included resurfacing the runway, updating markings and signage, and reconfiguring a taxiway intersection. Groundbreakings 2. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has broken ground on its first advanced packaging facility and has begun initial work on a fourth semiconductor fab at its north Phoenix campus. The packaging facility is expected to open by 2029. The projects are part of TSMC’s $165B Arizona expansion, which…

Davcon Aviation will build 400KSF of maintenance, repair and overhaul hangar space at Phoenix Goodyear Airport in the West Valley. The new hangars will be available in several different sizes to allow use by multiple types of aircraft, including wide-body, corporate and narrow-body. Davcon is partnering with design-build firm ARCO National Construction on the project. The search for tenants is already underway, with leasing efforts being headed by Cushman & Wakefield. The City of Phoenix owns Phoenix Goodyear Airport. Davcon and Phoenix will partner with tenants to streamline development via coordinated permitting, incentive packages and project support. Davcon officials said…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX When a product, service or technology is as cross-functional and pervasive as artificial intelligence, multiple mindsets emerge nearly simultaneously in the marketplace. Developers and investors tend to over-hype current capabilities and espouse a packaged set of sunshine, lollipops and rainbows about its future potential. Early adopters try to shoehorn it into every aspect of their operations, whether it fits, doesn’t fit or may one day fit. Detractors and luddites fear it portends the end of the world as we know it. AI has experienced all of these events, and others, to an extent rarely seen…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX Either the proverbial road to Hell may be about to get a fresh round of extensive full-depth patching with good intentions or portions of both major political parties are beating the drum for points leading into the midterm without actually having looked at the sheet music. As is often the case, maybe two things are true at once. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (HR 6644) has been passed in separate versions by both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. After passage in the Senate last month, it is now back…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX A long-planned mixed-use residential development in south Phoenix may get a new life under recent requests submitted to the City of Phoenix. Matrix Equities requested and received a rezoning at the SWC of 59th Avenue and Dobbins Road in 2022 for a development featuring a planned retail center, 207 traditional multifamily units and 197 Build-to-Rent units. The plan was collectively known as Matrix at Dobbins. (AZBEX; July 12, 2022) The DATABEX project database shows Phoenix City Council approved the rezoning request with stipulations in November 2022. In December 2022, a request was filed to divide…

Giving Back 1. The Arizona Registrar of Contractors hosted its fifth annual Construction Science Technology Apprenticeship Fair and VIP Summit at Chase Field in Phoenix on April 23. The event connected students, members of the United States Armed Forces and veterans with construction companies recruiting for apprenticeship positions and job openings. The VIP Summit brought together industry leaders, policymakers and educators to discuss workforce development, industry challenges and the BuildItAZ Initiative. Awards & Accolades 2. The Arizona Association for Economic Development presented its annual Economic Development Distinguished by Excellence Awards. In the order they were listed, 2026 EDDE award recipients…

Sales Transactions 1. Panattoni Development Company Inc. purchased a 25-acre office property at 2750 S. Priest Dr. in Tempe for $37.5M from JDM Partners. Newmark’s Erin McClure, Chris Marchildon, Gary Cornish and Nico Burgarello represented the seller, while Panattoni represented itself. JLL’s Steve Larsen and Jason Moore will handle leasing. Panattoni plans to demolish the existing buildings and redevelop the site into two one-story industrial buildings: 354.8KSF of warehouse, industrial and manufacturing space, 88.7KSF of office space and 373 parking spaces. Wespac Construction is the general contractor and Ware Malcomb is the architect for the redevelopment. 2. Transdien Engineering Co.…