Author: BEX Staff

The owners of Talas Harbor Behavioral Health Hospital are seeking a conditional use permit that will let them open a 30.8KSF, 48-bed behavioral health hospital in the Val Vista Medical Center Growth Area near Mercy Gilbert Medical Center. The Gilbert Planning Commission heard the proposal in a study session last week. It could come back for official review in April. No Town Council action will be needed for the CUP. The secure facility would have two courtyards without direct public access. The property is near a residential and school uses but lies beyond the required 1,500-foot separation. Project representative Evolve…

Representatives of the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project recently presented an update on its planned 570-mile transmission line and substations project to the Pinal County Board of Supervisors. SunZia will also host an open house about the project before a hearing with the Arizona Line Siting Committee, and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will hold public meetings concerning the project’s Environmental Impact Statement over the summer. Questions from the Board included the contact range for resident notifications, potential traffic impact management during construction and a compensation structure should the project require any assistance from County personnel. Residents on either side…

House Bill 2674, the bipartisan-sponsored measure to establish “zoning by right” in Arizona and derail bureaucratic red tape and Not In My Back Yard opposition to new developments, has been put on hold by one of its initial submitters. Republican Representative Steve Kaiser introduced the bill along with Democratic Rep. César Chávez. Chávez put the bill on hold “indefinitely,” saying he wants to revert the discussion back to the various stakeholders involved in the issue to ensure all voices are heard. The legislation, which would also have included $89M for the state’s housing trust fund, had been scheduled to go…

Awards & Accolades 1. The Arizona Chapter of NAIOP was named 2022 Large Chapter of the Year at the annual Chapter Merit Awards. NAIOP Arizona also won an award for a record Highest Number of New Members among the 52 chapters across the U.S. and Canada last year, adding more than 270 new members in 2021, a 13% increase. 2. Cushman & Wakefield | PICOR honored and celebrated its team members who demonstrated exceptional performance and production in 2021 at the company’s annual awards luncheon. Company Awards President’s Award for Excellence: Thomas J. Nieman Peter H. Douglas Heart & Soul…

Sales Transactions 1. A joint venture between Nippon Steel subsidiary Nippon Steel Kowa Real Estate and Continental Realty Group recently paid $58.25M for the 150-unit apartment development Arrive Fountain Hills. The property will undergo interior upgrades and be rebranded as Luna at Fountain Hills. 2. A year after acquiring a 227KSF industrial property at 10300 W. Buckeye in Tolleson for $16.35M, Stos Partners has sold the property for $27.5M. 3. Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the sale of West 101 Business Center, a 118.9KSF, three-building suburban office park in west Phoenix. The property was acquired by Higley Project LLC for…

Project, Process Became a Test Case for Revitalization vs. NIMBY By Roland Murphy for AZBEX After a nearly two-year struggle, multiple revisions and accommodations to neighborhood and regulatory resistance, abundant mis- and disinformation, and its emergence as a poster child representative of the ongoing reformative development versus the forces of Not In My Back Yard, a highly revised and scaled back version of the Greenbelt 88 mixed-use proposal to revitalize a dying shopping center at Hayden and Osborn roads in Scottsdale gained approval from the City Council this week. Having run thousands-upon-thousands of words here about the project’s details and…

By BEX Staff for AZBEX Tempe City Council planned to vote on February 10th on entering negotiations with two potential developers on the adaptive reuse of Hayden Flour Mill. Results of the vote were not available by press time. The proposal moving forward was jointly submitted by Venue Projects and Sunbelt Holdings, both of which are highly experienced in delivering projects in the Valley. Tempe’s evaluation committee recommended the firms following a Request for Proposals released in September. Plan details from the submitted proposal have not yet been released. According to the background information accompanying the Request for Council Action,…

El Dorado Holdings is working to change plans for a site near Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway and Porter Road in Maricopa. An age-restricted patio home development had been planned for the 23-acre property, but representatives with iPlan Consulting say the most likely plan to come is a market rate multifamily project. There are currently more than 1,000 residential units planned for the immediate area. The iPlan official said a mixed-use component on six acres of the property will be part of the proposal, which is currently the preliminary planning stage with the City. A formal proposal and pre-application narrative are expected…

By City of Prescott The City of Prescott announced plans for a new 220KSF FedEx Ground distribution facility near Prescott Regional Airport. The land for the facility totals about 30 acres. Commercial developer Kiernan West LLC acquired the property from the City of Prescott following a public bid process, and will develop the facility on behalf of FedEx Ground. In 2021, the City acquired a total of 115 acres of land, off Melville Road, as part of the development agreement with Arizona Eco Development, which was approved earlier this year. “FedEx Ground will be the first anchor tenant of this property,”…

The 2022 Regional Skills Competition was canceled. To give students an opportunity to compete, Peoria Unified School District developed its own multi-school challenge in which students created constructed wood pieces in the District Administration Center parking lot. Winners will be announced February 11th at the schools and on social media. The winning team will receive the “Best Peoria Unified CTE Construction Program 2022” Award. The contest is being conducted as part of Career and Technical Education Month. (Source)