Author: BEX Staff

Earlier this month, the Surprise City Council approved an intergovernmental agreement with Maricopa County to create a multigenerational community resource center in the City’s Original Town Site. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has also approved the agreement and will contribute $18M made available under the American Rescue Plan Act. The total cost estimate for the new 38KSF center is $26.4M. Surprise will use $5.04M of its own ARPA funding and a one-time $3.35M general fund expenditure to cover the remainder of the cost. The new Northwest Community Resource Center is expected to provide more room for expanded youth and…

Last week, Exceptional Healthcare confirmed its plans to build a 20KSF hospital facility near Highway 95 and Marina Blvd. in Bullhead City. According to an article in Mohave Valley Daily News, the hospital will be built on part of a 268-acre parcel owned by CSQ H95 LLLP, which is planning a residential and commercial mixed-use development. Bullhead City officials praised the announcement, as the hospital will support the area’s ongoing growth in both population and amenities. Construction is planned to commence later this year, with the opening targeted for late 2023 or early 2024. Exceptional Healthcare delivered its first hospital…

Information from the Federal Reserve shows a housing pricing environment out of step with fundamentals to a degree not seen since before the Great Recession. Among the factors raising concerns are national price-to-rent ratios and price-to-income ratios. Impacting factors include low interest rates, COVID-stimulus programs and supply chain issues driving a fear of missing out on opportunities before prices rise even more, as well as an aggressive rate of speculation among investors. While price appreciation is excessive, experts caution that is not a definition of a bubble in and of itself. Other factors, such as access to credit, rising materials and labor…

Stillwater Superstition, a 373-unit multifamily development in the pre-construction phase near the Superstition Springs shopping center in Mesa, took another step forward recently when developer Stillwater Capital Investments officially purchased the site for $11.1M. The sellers were Lamar Companies and GFI-Mesa Investments Ltd. Stillwater was represented by David Fogler and Steven Nicoluzakis of Cushman & Wakefield. Stillwater Superstition is one of two projects the company has in process, the second being the 360-unit Biltmore Lakes multifamily development at 2910 E. Camelback Rd in Phoenix. Stillwater has named MT Builders as the general contractor for the Mesa project. Architectural services are provided by OMNIPLAN. Planned amenities for Stillwater Superstition include a fitness center, pool and…

Groundbreakings 1. Representatives from North American Development Group, Will Bruder Architects, LJC and Clayco joined local officials to celebrate the official groundbreaking of PALMtower Residences at Arizona Center, a new 28-story tower in downtown Phoenix. The structure is scheduled for completion in early 2024. 2. The Mayo Clinic has broken ground on its 150KSF Integrated Education and Research Building near 56th Street and Mayo Blvd. in north Phoenix. The building is part of a $748M expansion plan. 3. Construction has begun on the $30M project to expand and improve Red Mountain Park on Brown Road in Mesa. Completion is expected in early-to-mid-2024. 4. A.R. Mays Construction has started work on the 61KSF $15.8M FatCats family entertainment center…

The Surprise Planning & Zoning Commission met April 7th to consider policy changes to streamline approvals. According to a presentation to the Commission, the process started last December when the mayor and City Council directed staff to find ways of improving projects’ speed to market. Staff studied its options from December through February and presented findings to Council. The mayor and council then directed the staff to pursue a zoning text amendment. Among the proposed changes are: Removing the “major” and “minor designations for site plan amendments;Put the decision-making authority for preliminary plats in the hands of the Commission, with appeals going to…

Since we were lucky enough to have four of the state’s leading experts on the Build-to-Rent market address our BEX Leading Market Series event this week, we decided to take a closer look at the state of the market as it stands today. Arizona is generally considered the origin point for the modern Build-to-Rent multifamily sector. Even though the sector has gained traction in every U.S. market, Arizona – particularly metro Phoenix – continues to dominate. A January 2020 market review by RentCaféshowed Phoenix with 6,420 units in inventory. Metro Columbus was a distant second with 4,780. That same report identified 6,740 units delivered across the country…

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…