Author: BEX Staff

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)

Casa Grande officials are considering a $115M bond request to fund infrastructure improvements in the city. Potential projects include $41M in road improvements, new trail development, a City Hall expansion, renovations and upgrades to three fire stations, multiple parks and recreation projects, improvements to the Ed Hooper Park/Paul Mason Sports Complex and to the Aquatic Center. City Council members unanimously expressed support for the plan in a recent study session. A resident survey of park priorities is currently in development. If the plan advances, it would be put out for a vote in this year’s general election. (Source)

Economists presenting at the recent 2022 International Builder’s Show in Orlando predicted the compressed housing inventory and high buyer demand, combined with supply chain shortcomings and the ongoing labor shortage will maintain the hot pace of the housing market and its associated impacts on affordability. National Association of Home Builders Chief Economist Robert Dietz reported materials costs have increased 21% Year-over-Year. NAHB has estimated residential construction will have to add 740,000 workers/year to keep pace with demand. Another challenge confronting affordability is the combination of rising inflation and the impending commencement of rate increases from the Federal Reserve to contain…

Groundbreakings 1. City of Phoenix will begin installation of the Drought Pipeline under Glendale Avenue at 21st Street on February 14th as part of the $300M Drought Resiliency Infrastructure Program. The work is expected to take six to eight weeks. Construction for the project continues on Bell Road from 31st to 32nd Street. Additional pipeline work is ongoing along 32nd Street. 2. CapRock Partners has begun construction on the 2.56MSF first phase of its 2.56MSF CapRock West 202 Logistics spec industrial park near 59th Avenue and Van Buren. Completion is expected early next year. 3. Isola Communities has started construction…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX A new bipartisan piece of legislation proposed by Republican State Representative Steve Kaiser and Democratic State Representative César Chávez would, among other items, preempt municipalities from using zoning regulations to restrict residential development and enact ‘zoning by right’ to simplify and accelerate the process for both traditional single-family and multifamily developments around the state. Bureaucratic opposition or inertia is regularly cited as one of three key factors hindering the construction and development industry’s ability to generate supply at a pace that can address demand, the other two being the ongoing labor shortage and construction materials…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX HB 2674 – the bipartisan legislation proposed by Republican Arizona State Representative Steve Kaiser and co-sponsor Democratic State Representative César Chávez to preempt “local laws, ordinances and charter provisions” that limit residential development – has generated increasing levels of controversy among local officials, development opposition groups, housing advocates and other stakeholders dealing with the quagmire minutia of guiding proposed projects through the approval process. Excellent high-level overviews of the bill are available at The Arizona Republic and AZ Big Media. The full text of the legislation is available here. In this piece, we will provide…

Arizona Land Consulting LLC will manage development of a planned industrial center on nearly 2,000 acres in Buckeye west of the municipal airport and south of I-10. The site was once intended as a master-planned community that would have been known as Cipriani. The community was first proposed in 2008. ALC and its investment partners bought the land from Cipriani Land Holdings for nearly $40M earlier this month. Buckeye Municipal Airport is one of four primary industrial areas in the rapidly growing city. ALC officials plan to rezone the Cipriani land for industrial development, after which infrastructure plans must be…

A bill sponsored by State Representative David Cook of Globe that will appropriate $15M to fund an extension of SR 24 and develop a connector that extends from SR 24 along the Central Arizona Project canal alignment has won unanimous approval from the House Transportation Committee. The money, which equals roughly half the estimated project cost, will be taken from the General Fund next year and issued to the Arizona Department of Transportation for distribution to Pinal County. The County will acquire the right of way for the SR 24 extension and develop the connector route. (Source)