Author: BEX Staff

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX BEXclusive It will probably come as no surprise to regular readers of my columns that News Analysis and Media Criticism were two of favorite classes back in college. Today’s outing will be a rare adventure in both. There are a few reasons I targeted my training exclusively toward print reporting rather than broadcast journalism. The biggest reason is broadcast’s superficial detail. A three-minute piece is considered “long form” in standard TV news. That comes out to approximately 450 words, a little more than one-third of a magazine page if there are no pictures. That’s enough…

By BEX Staff for AZBEX Casa Grande’s swelling development roster for high-tech and related manufacturing projects recently received another prospective addition. Recent media reports say Air Products and Chemicals is planning a facility in the city to produce liquid hydrogen. Hydrogen is used in a variety of industrial applications, including semiconductor manufacturing, as well as a fuel source for a growing segment of alternative fuel vehicles. The company has a facility in Chandler, which has been in operation since 1979. The proposed Casa Grande facility would be on 40 acres in the area of Peters and Burris roads on agricultural…

San Luis City Council has approved entering a development agreement with Riedel Holdings LLC for a nearly 187-acre housing development, including a 40-acre shopping center, in the Los Mezquites subdivision at Avenue E and County 23½ Street. The shopping center and 186 housing lots will make up the subdivision’s first phase. The land is part of a 630-acre-plus area Council rezoned from industrial. (Source)

Mesa City Council has approved an $8.4M renovation plan for its historic downtown post office. The former post office and federal office building, built in 1937, will become a community events space known as The Post. The federal government gifted the building to Mesa in 2002 with a stipulation that it be put to public use. At one point, it was planned as a new home for the Mesa Historical Museum. The City scrapped that plan when it appeared the museum use would not be economically sustainable. Mesa voters approved two bond measures that included money for the building. Those…

By Arizona Department of Transportation Expect additional highway improvements in northern Arizona this year as the Arizona Department of Transportation prepares to kick off projects along northern Arizona highways in 2022. Among the most significant projects is the widening of US 93 just north of Wickenburg. The project will widen US 93 to a four-lane divided highway between Tegner Street and Wickenburg Ranch Way. This project is anticipated to be advertised this spring with construction anticipated to start before the end of the year. This continues ADOT’s decades-long effort to convert the entire stretch of US 93 from Wickenburg to…

A coalition of real estate and business leader have formed the housing advocacy group Home Arizona to encourage officials to address housing affordability and development constraints. The Arizona Republic reports there are at least 30 apartment projects canceled or put on hold last year due to neighborhood resistance, political fear and zoning issues. (Editor’s Note: A cursory review of DATABEX multifamily projects with most recent updates of between January 1st, 2021 and February 3rd, 2022 shows 63 projects as Canceled or On Hold.) Arizona is in the midst of a record housing shortage in terms of demand versus supply, with…

By Associated Builders and Contractors National nonresidential construction spending fell 0.7% in December 2021, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data published by the U.S. Census Bureau. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $820.7B for the month. Spending was down on a monthly basis in 11 of the 16 nonresidential subcategories. Private nonresidential spending was virtually unchanged, but public nonresidential construction spending declined 1.6% in December. Overall nonresidential construction spending was up 3.9% from a year ago. Residential construction spending rose 14.7% over that time span. “Much of the increase in nonresidential construction spending…

Groundbreakings 1. ViaWest has begun construction on the three building, 500KSF Converge Logistics Center near I-10 and Ray Road. 2. Construction started on a the 409-space Parking Garage at The BLVD in Avondale, which will replace the current park-and-ride facility and handle both transit riders and visitors to the planned mixed-use project. 3. The Related Group has announced the start of construction at Town Chandler Apartments, a 420-unit development at Frye and Ellis roads in Chandler. 4. Caliber Companies will break ground this month on The Commons of Mesa, a 144-unit affordable housing development on S. MacDonald Drive. Progress Reports…

Gilbert nonprofit INSPIRE Music Service Hope is attempting to raise funds for a 65KSF performing arts theater destination in the town that would include a 600-seat main theater, 200-seat studio theater, a 10KSF administration space that includes a classroom, rehearsal, dressing rooms and scene shop area. INSPIRE Entertainment, the group’s for-profit business, runs a dance studio with more than 800 students. The nonprofit’s next fundraising event will be a gala on February 12th. The group is still looking at several potential sites for the project and there is no timeline for the planned center’s funding or construction. (Source)

Developer Harrison 15, LLC and the City of Kingman have been working together for more than a year on plans to produce a 400-unit workforce housing multifamily development north of I-40 near Centennial Park. City officials have noted both the shortage of workforce available units and the need to increase diversity in the housing supply in Kingman. No timeline estimate has been announced, but the zoning and permits are in place. The permit timeline was extended to ensure labor availability to build the project. Harrison 15 is working with contractor T.R. Orr, Inc. on the budget and delivery schedule, but…