Author: BEX Staff

More than 60 industry professionals attended Wednesday’s BEX Companies Leading Market Series panel discussion on the Build-to-Rent market. Lance Keller, founder and managing member of Lifestyle Homes, served as moderator. The three-person panel consisted of: Jim Belfiore, chief strategist at Keystone Homes;Shelby Duplessis, president of land development at Empire Group, andBret Rinehart, residential lot and land advisor at Land Advisors. Following a brief introduction by BEX Companies Founder and President Rebekah Morris, Keller took the panel into the questions and answers straightaway. The first question was one that has plagued the industry since Build-to-Rent first started becoming a market factor: How do you define it? While answers ranged from…

After encountering fierce opposition to plans to eliminate popular commercial real estate tax benefits last year, the Biden Administration has taken another approach and simply placed the measure into the White House’s new budget proposal. In addition to rolling back the popular 1031 exchange, the actions also target several other deductions and processes. Congress had initially removed 1031 exchange revisions from the budget. The Administration put them back in. 1031 exchanges are one of 10 deductions the Administration is branding as “tax loopholes” and is seeking to close. Industry experts cite the positive impact the deferred capital gains under 1031 exchanges have brought…

More details and discussion have emerged on Optima, Inc.’s proposal to build Optima McDowell Mountain Village, a project consisting of 1,500 multifamily units and 31KSF of commercial uses in six 11-story buildings near Scottsdale Road and Loop 101. An article in Scottsdale Progress reports Optima hopes to get construction underway on the first two towers – one for apartments and one for condos – before the end of the year. Once begun, construction is expected to take between 24 and 28 months. Planned unit sizes range from 675SF to more than 2.2KSF. Planned amenities running tracks, Olympic pools, outdoor barbeques…

Neighborhood opposition has led developer DHI Communities to revise its plan for Ascend at Longbow Highpoint, a planned multifamily community at Recker and McDowell roads. DHI had requested a rezoning for the site from light industrial to develop a 359-unit apartment complex comprised of two- and three-story buildings and featuring 38KSF of retail. Nearby residents inhabiting single-family homes in the area vigorously opposed the proposal before the Planning and Zoning Board in February. The opposition centered around the standard concerns over potentially increased crime, traffic and impacts to neighborhood character, along with the other points of contention concerning height and…

Sales Transactions 1: Western Wealth Capital has purchased the 880-unit apartment portfolio Tucson V in Tucson from Weidner Apartment Homes for $130M. The portfolio consists of Las Brisas (248 units), Aventura (239 units), Alegria (161 units), The Enclave (120 units) and Vista Montana (112 units). The sale was brokered by Hamid Panahi, Steve Gebing and Cliff David of Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, representing the seller and procuring the buyer. 2: JLL Capital Markets announced it has closed the $86.5M sale of The Alexander & The Johnathan, a pair of Class A office assets totaling 219.6KSF feet…

Dysart Unified School District is estimating its new campus needs and expects to require a new high school and two or three elementary schools before 2030. About half the needed funds will come from the Arizona School Facilities Board, but state funding will likely not be available to meet all DUSD’s needs before space needs become critical. A new high school will be essential to handle expected volume increases of as many as 3,000 students before the end of the decade, according to officials. SFB monies are considered likely for this project. The pandemic has affected enrollment numbers, making projections…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX For long-time Arizona residents, the growth and maturation of Glendale is still somewhat surprising. It wasn’t all that long ago the city was viewed as perpetually stalled – a kind of backwater where grand, and occasionally even modest, visions were proposed that then withered on the vine without coming to fruition. The completion of the Loop 101, followed by the long-promised and eventually delivered Loop 303, and, later, the western leg of the Loop 202, finally put the stars in correct alignment, and project after project, employer after employer and rooftop after rooftop have followed,…

Avondale Parks & Recreation staff recently updated City Council on the design and budget status for the Avondale Aquatic Center on the Civic Center campus. CORE Construction has developed an initial cost estimate, and the schematic design process is 30% complete. As planned, the center will have a 10-lane competition swimming pool with two diving boards, and a recreation pool with a play structure, basketball hoops, volleyball space, a lazy river and three water slides. This fiscal year’s budget allocation for the project is $6M. Another $10M is planned in the next fiscal year. Total costs are projected at $25M,…

Developer IndiCap has requested a general plan amendment and rezoning for a 292-acre site on Power Road between Warner and Elliot to allow a two-phase 4MSF light industrial project on undeveloped land. According to comments attributed to attorney Adam Baugh at a recent neighborhood meeting to discuss the project, if the requests are approved, groundbreaking could take place in spring of next year. Market conditions will then determine the timing for Phase II. Baugh said the area’s proximity to two freeways and the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport has made it a long-envisioned employment corridor. The site is currently zoned for light…

Despite impassioned opposition from a small but vocal cadre of nearby residents, the Mesa Planning and Zoning Board last month voted to recommend City Council approve the 359-unit multifamily mixed-use project Ascend at Longbow Highpoint. Planning staff had previously recommended the project for approval by the Board. The 20-acre site near Longbow Golf Club is currently zoned for light industrial. Developer DHI Communities intends to build 359 residential units with additional commercial uses. In meetings between DHI Communities, opponents and a City-hired facilitator to discuss the project, stated concerns included: General opposition to multifamily housing, overflow parking in neighborhoods, noise…