Author: BEX Staff

By Rebekah Morris for AZBEX A ceremonial groundbreaking was held last week for Sunlit Chemical near the enormous TSMC chip manufacturing plant currently underway in north Phoenix. Sunlit Chemical purchased the land from Mack Real Estate Group, and the site is part of the larger Mack Innovation Park, also known as ASLD Supplier Site A. From the press release distributed by the Arizona Commerce Authority: “Representing a $100M total investment in two phases, the 900KSF facility located on 17 acres in north Phoenix will produce hydrofluoric acid and other high purity grade industrial chemicals in the first phase, which will…

The Gila County Board of Supervisors has approved a $21.1M Arizona Department of Transportation grant to build the Tonto Creek Bridge. The Board also approved a general fund transfer of $1M and a $1.8M transfer from the Transportation Excise Tax Fund to pay the county’s grant match to ADOT. ADOT will issue a bid request for the project in February, with bid returns expected in March and an award made in April or May. Construction is expected to take 18-24 months and begin somewhere between August and October of this year. A cell tower and some APS wires must be…

By The Arizona Attorney General’s Office Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced that Vernal “Vern” Lee Crow, of Glendale, has been indicted on four felony counts of Conflict of Interest in connection with his appointed position as a member of the Arizona School Facilities Board. Crow is alleged to have failed to disclose his interest and his son’s interest in Red Tree Consulting LLC, a construction consulting company that benefited from three projects awarded by the SFB while Crow was a participating board member. Crow previously owned Red Tree jointly with his son Michael until 2017. After 2017, Crow’s son was…

Giving Back 1. Native American communities in eastern Arizona will benefit from a new source of clean drinking water through a project sponsored by Resolution Copper and Stantec to deploy “hydropanel” technology. The companies are partnering with White Mountain Apache community members to provide 64 hydropanels on the Fort Apache Reservation and supporting hydropanel installation programs in other Native American communities. Hydropanels are a renewable water technology that uses solar energy to provide drinking water by drawing pure, constantly replenished water vapor out of the sky. Promotions 2. Orcutt | Winslow’s Managing Partners (Neil Terry, Vispi Karanjia, Carl Nelson and Erik Clinite) announce…

Sales Transactions 1. American Campus Communities Inc. has formed a joint venture with Harrison Street for ACC’s eight-property Arizona State University student housing portfolio. Harrison Street acquired a 45% stake in the JV. The closing will be in two stages. Stage 1 closed in December, totaling three properties at $271.7M. The remaining five properties, valued at $279.6M, are expected to close in late 2022 or early 2023. 2. The Boulevard, a 294-unit apartment complex in Phoenix, has been purchased by Davlyn Investments for $112.5M. The seller, who was not disclosed, was represented by Steve Gebing and Cliff David of Institutional…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX Last week we talked about the constraints holding back construction and completions, which had been a primary theme of the BEX Companies 2022 Forecast Event. For those of you who missed the event or the writeup, a major takeaway came from BEX Founder and President Rebekah Morris when she said, “We have projects that could go well north of 20 billion (dollars). The market can’t deliver them. We’re going to hold our projections flat. We think the market’s at capacity. Unless we get some massive increase in supply, we’re not going to be able to…

Plans for Unbound Gateway, a 2.5MSF industrial development in Mesa near the SEC of Sossaman and Pecos roads, are going back before the Planning and Zoning Board after “substantial revision.” Union Pacific Railroad had raised concerns Unbound Gateway could interfere with the railroad’s long planned Pecos Industrial Rail Access and Train Extension project (PIRATE), a six-mile rail extension the company hopes to get started building as early as this year. When Mesa officials approved Unbound Gateway in October, it was seen as a means to increase industrial development in the project area. Union Pacific raised objections at the time, but…

Amazon.com Services has bought 51 acres across from Amazon’s existing 1.2MSF Fulfillment Center on South Kolb Road in Tucson where it plans to build a Delivery Station. Steve Cohen with Cushman & Wakefield | PICOR negotiated the transaction on behalf of both the buyer and seller. Delivery stations average slightly more than 123KSF at full build-out and are used to prepare orders for “last-mile delivery” to customers. Amazon dramatically increased its number of delivery centers recently, adding 178 facilities between the ends of 2019 and 2020. The new location will be Amazon’s third station in the Tucson area. (Source)

Flagstaff Unified School District has voted to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Flagstaff to build water retention basis at Killip Elementary School, which is currently undergoing a rebuild. Flagstaff City Council approved the IGA earlier this month. Undertaking the retention basin project while the rebuild is under construction should make it easier to complete. The finished project will help protect the building and surrounding neighborhood. The field will hold approximately 11-acre feet of water. When not flooded, the basins will serve as sports fields. The FUSD Board approved two maximum price proposals from CORE Construction for…

Funding for the 20-year, $13.1B transportation master plan Move Tucson will rely heaving on voter approvals and federal grants. The plan was created to demonstrate Tucson’s needs, not as an actual project improvement plan. City leaders set the more realistic goal of increasing transportation funds by $128M/year, a 50% increase beyond the current funding level and a number that would allow for many of the highest priority projects. In a recent Tucson City Council meeting, officials made clear voter approvals will determine the plan’s ultimate viability. Even if voters approve the plan, a minimum of $100M in grant money will…