Author: BEX Staff

Awards & Accolades 1. Achen-Gardner Construction, LLC received the Wastewater System Project of the Year award for its City of Phoenix PVC-Lined Concrete Sewer Pipe and Manhole Rehabilitation – North CMAR project during the 98th Annual AZ Water Conference and Exhibition. The project rehabilitated more than 17KLF pipe, and 36 manholes were either rehabilitated or constructed. There were 20 sewer bypass operations, including a double containment system crossing the Central Arizona Project canal at the Cave Creek Bridge. 2. Gensler was honored at the 2025 IIDA Southwest Design Awards for two commercial office projects. Comarch Data Center received the Award…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX After receiving multiple inquiries over the years from site selectors looking for large sites for future employment centers, and having few options to present to them, Pima County is advancing an Area Specific Plan that could fuel major economic development activity in the years to come. Pima has several areas and specific properties it owns and leases for various types of economic development activities—including downtown urban space, interstate-adjacent office and industrial properties—and the 500-acre Aerospace Research Campus intended for aerospace, technology and research and development uses. In the 1970s, the County acquired approximately 3,000 acres…

By CJ Jorgensen for AZBEX Valley Partnership’s 2025 Water Summit Luncheon captured Arizona’s current hydrological landscape with the repeated motif, “We are running out of water. We have all the water we need.” The Water Summit consisted of four different topics that included six speakers. The event began with Fennemore’s Director of Natural Resources, Rob Anderson. Anderson, who coined the quote of the day, gave a broad overview of the history of water in Arizona and the future of water in the Grand Canyon state. Water is sourced from four separate areas: the Colorado River, in-state rivers (such as the…

By BEX Staff for AZBEX As part of the consent agenda for its April 22 meeting, the Tempe Development Review Commission approved a development plan review for Tempe Townhomes, a planned community by WeBuild Residential on a 1.81-acre site at 2152 E. Wildermuth Dr., near the SWC of Apache Blvd. and Price Road. The development is planned for a total of 35 units distributed across seven three-story buildings. According to the staff report, the building types consist of four-plex, five-plex and seven-plex layouts. The unit mix consists of six two-bedroom and 29 three-bedroom homes. Two existing single-family homes on the…

In a recent study Session, Casa Grande Community Services Director Daniel Gallegos presented City Council with data from a recent survey researching residents’ most desired services and facilities. Casa Grande’s Sports Complex Concept plan examines new sports and multipurpose fields, along with a new aquatics facility featuring a heated pool. Residents put the new aquatics center first among recreation amenities choices. Sports fields and hiking and cycling trails also received high scores. A City concept plan puts a possible $27M aquatic complex next to the Community Recreation Center. The outdoor facility would feature main and recreational heated pools, as well…

Giving Back 1. The nonprofit Jacob’s Hope is to receive free construction and renovations from the Arizona Builders Alliance for its facility on Country Club Drive in Mesa. ABA is offering these services as a part of its annual Community Service Project. Renovations are expected to be completed by the end of June. Awards & Accolades 2. NAIOP Arizona’s 2025 Award of Excellence will be awarded to Mike Haenel, Executive Vice Chair with Cushman & Wakefield, who has more than 40 years of experience in the industrial/back-office real estate sector. The award will be officially presented on May 1. Company…

Sales Transactions 1. Sanctuary at South Mountain, a 166-unit horizontal Build-to-Rent apartment home community at 6250 S. 40th Pl., was sold to Tower 16 Capital Partners for $48M. CRP/Brown 40th and Southern Owner, LLC, the seller, was represented by Berkadia Phoenix in the sale. CBRE secured debt financing for the buyer. Cushman & Wakefield will serve as a third-party property manager for the south Phoenix property, which will be rebranded as Obsidian at South Mountain. The community contains one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment homes averaging 1.1KSF each. 2. Plaza Escondida at 7850-7972 N. Oracle Road in Oro Valley was recently…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX In its April 22 meeting, the Buckeye Planning and Zoning Commission approved site plans for a pair of developments that hope to deliver 200 new Build-to-Rent units and 394 apartments. BTR at SEC Yuma and Apache Dominium’s plan for a Build-to-Rent community at the SEC of Yuma and Apache roads calls for 10 single-story detached and 95 two-story duplex buildings with a total of 100 three- and 100 four-bedroom units. Parking will be divided into 243 surface and 200 carport spaces. Planned amenities include a clubhouse/leasing office, an amenity complex with a pool and ramada…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX After extensive delays with few-to-no updates, it appears the Sprouts Farmers Market and parking garage project as part of the Papago Plaza Master Plan is finally getting ready for construction. Late last week, BEX research staff found a pending permit request for two components at the site, one for 23,453SF and one for 80,039SF, perfectly matching the plans on file for the grocery store and garage at 1490 N. Scottsdale Road. The entire Papago Plaza redevelopment has been a mix of starts and stops since the master plan was first proposed in 2018. The 274-unit…

By Associated Builders and Contractors On April 15, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14275, Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement, directing significant revisions to the Federal Acquisition Regulations System with the goal of simplifying and streamlining federal procurement. The White House released an accompanying fact sheet and press release with the order. The order directs the Office of Federal Procurement Policy within the Office of Management and Budget to amend the FAR to remove provisions that are not required by law and deemed unnecessary to support simplicity and usability in federal procurement or protect economic and national security interests.…