Author: BEX Staff

Giving Back 1. Children at Camp Verde Elementary in Camp Verde have a brand-new state-of-the-art play space. Volunteers from Fiesta Bowl Charities, the Salt River Project and KABOOM! came together February 25th to build the 2KSF playground from the ground up. Boards & Commissions 2. Tech Parks Arizona announced that Ryan H. Goodell has been appointed to its board of directors. Goodell serves as the University of Arizona VP for Facilities, Operations and Campus Planning. Promotions 3. Troy Reierson has been appointed as General Manager overseeing Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices’ operations in Arizona, Nevada and California. 4. Andy Mertz has been…

Sales Transactions 1. Cushman & Wakefield has advised the joint venture of Martens Development and Dune Real Estate Partners in the disposition sale of Landing 3, a new Class A industrial development totaling 525KSF in seven buildings in Mesa. An affiliate of Cohen Asset Management acquired the portfolio in partnership with ASB Real Estate Investments for $130M. The seller was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Will Strong, Greer Oliver, Connor Nebeker-Hay, Adam Spies and Marcella Fasulo. C&W’s Rob Rubano and Brian Share arranged financing for the buyer. 2. WhiteHaven Capital Partners has purchased the 163-unit Stadium Vue Townhomes in Peoria…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX The prevailing wisdom was that new development proposals would start to trickle into Apache Junction once the massive Superstition Vistas master plan began moving from grand vision toward reality. Early activity suggests the prevailing wisdom may have been a tad cautious. In the last several weeks no fewer than five major projects have been submitted to the little city that was, until recently, long considered a country cousin to the Valley’s burgeoning metro area. As a reminder, Superstition Vistas is a master plan arising from a 2020 Arizona State Land Department auction of nearly 2,800…

The final tenant improvements on 850 PBC, the latest addition to the Phoenix Biomedical Campus downtown, are underway and targeted for fall delivery. Wexford Science and Technology is the developer and will take 34.5KSF of the 227KSF facility when the improvements are complete. In the meantime, the next structure on the campus is in the planning stages. 843 PBC will create a total of 600KSF in two towers, according to Wexford representatives. The exact final scale of the project will be contingent on market demand, but representatives say the company is working with Arizona State University and the City of…

The Buckeye Planning and Zoning Commission approved a site plan for Crimson Canyon, a 324KSF industrial proposal south of Durango Road, at its regular meeting February 22nd. The developer is in ongoing talks with an area homeowner’s association about access issues and other minor points. As planned, the project will deliver a 323,840SF building on 21.6 acres. The single-story warehouse will have a height of 46 feet, and 328 parking spaces will be provided on site. Crimson Canyon is the project owner/developer. LGE Design Build/Group is the design firm and general contractor. (Source)

The Tempe City Council has unanimously approved a work-from-home-focused, 129-unit apartment plan from Holualoa Companies. Dwell: A Work@Home Community was approved February 10th and will consist of studio, one-bedroom and one-bedroom with built-in office units northwest of Farmer Avenue and 5th Street. Holualoa representatives said the project fills an important niche for affordable, worker-centric housing in attractive urban areas surrounded by area amenities. They expressed hopes the project format would be picked up and implemented in other communities. As such, Dwell will not have a pool or some other high-end features, a rarity for Phoenix-area developments. It will, however, offer…

Surprise City Council has begun consideration for a proposal that would make site plan approval an administrative item rather than requiring action by the Planning and Zoning Commission. A separate streamlining item under discussion would place final authority for administrative plats with Planning and Zoning, rather than sending them to City Council. Council members generally expressed interest in the ideas, which could come up for a vote in a future meeting. Some members, however, were concerned that the process revision would remove one public hearing from the process. Supporters argued that public comment is not particularly relevant in the site…

In his recent State of the City address, Mesa Mayor John Giles highlighted many of the city’s recent successes and a sense of ongoing forward momentum. Giles pointed out Mesa has added more than 4MSF of manufacturing and commercial space and issued more than 8,000 building permits. He pointed out, however, that the ongoing construction labor shortage casts a shadow over all that development potential. Key projects Giles highlighted during the presentation included: The City’s partnership with Arizona State University for the ASU @ Mesa City Center (Creative Futures Lab), which will also be associated with the The Studios @…

Awards & Accolades 1. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has honored Arizona water infrastructure projects for excellence and innovation within the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Drinking Water SRF programs. Picture Rocks and Airline/Lambert Water Treatment Campuses, Marana, was recognized with EPA’s AQUARIUS Award for innovation, sustainability and public health protection in providing clean drinking water to its community. Flagstaff Watershed Protection was recognized for its work to prevent forest fires with EPA’s PISCES Award. Flagstaff Watershed Protection’s resiliency project employs forest thinning to protect Flagstaff’s drinking water resources and avoid catastrophic wildfire damage. Groundbreakings 2. Preliminary work has…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX After the extensively drawn-out approval for Greenbelt 88 was finally secured (AZBEX; Feb. 11) and two Arizona Legislators made major waves across the state’s local zoning authorities and development communities with the introduction of HB 2674, a bill that would have stripped municipalities of much of their power in determining project approvals (AZBEX, Feb. 8), I had the opportunity to talk with Jason Morris, partner at land use law firm Withey Morris, PLC and one of Arizona’s most sought-after experts in terms of zoning, land use and entitlements. HB 2674 caused massive waves in municipal…