Author: BEX Staff

By Concord Wilshire, TLG Investment Partners and Hines via News Direct One of Phoenix’s most iconic properties is about to become the largest mall redevelopment project in Arizona history, transforming into a vibrant new addition to the city’s core. Concord Wilshire Capital and TLG Investment Partners (collectively, the “Developer”) announced today that they have contracted to acquire the iconic Metrocenter Mall in Phoenix, and plan to invest approximately $750M to redevelop the property into a residential and mixed-use community. The Developer has formed a strategic alliance with Hines to redevelop and repurpose the Metrocenter Mall into a community-driven walkable village…

Two projects – Deer Valley and Scatter Wash – known together as Scatter Wash Energy Storage, are in the initial development stages to create a free-standing battery storage project near Deer Valley Airport. Developer Strata Clean Energy plans to spend $450M to create a 400MW/1,600 megawatt hours-capable battery storage site that would house enough energy to power at least 350,000 homes for one hour. The site is located near the APS Scatter Wash substation and will connect to APS’ grid when completed in 2024. Battery storage and grid connectivity is a growing sector in energy development projects. KORE Power’s KOREPlex…

Maricopa is seeing an explosion in residential development. A recent article from inMaricopa shows 15 individual projects totaling more than 20,500 units in various stages of planning and construction. Of those, nine are traditional single-family owner-occupied. Multifamily development is a much more recent phenomenon in the city, but it could be said to be making up for lost time with six projects of various types in progress. Those include: West Maricopa Village: 520 units; Portales Townhomes: 33 townhome rental units; Honeycutt Run: 208 single-family Build-to-Rent units; Hancock Gunsmoke: 253 single-family Build-to-Rent units; Hampton Edison: 151 units; and Copa Flats: 312…

Open construction jobs increased to a total of 410,000 unfilled positions in October. That sets a record in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data for the sector. The 410,000 job openings in construction meant an unfilled job rate of 5.4% in October. The count a year ago was 253,000. (Source)

AZ Water Association is now accepting nominations for water/wastewater operators, professionals, projects, and systems for recognition at the 95th Annual Conference & Exhibition in April 2022. Deadline to submit is February 17th, 2022. More information on the awards and event is available here. AZ Water Awards Construction Professional of the Year (Open to Owners, Designers, Operators & Contractors) Electrician of the Year (Large & Small Systems) Engineer of the Year Environmental Stewardship Gimmicks & Gadgets Health and Safety Professional of the Year Kachina Award for Outstanding Service Laboratory Analyst of the Year Maintenance Mechanic of the Year (Large & Small Systems) Nathan…

Giving Back 1. Western Wealth Communities and Western Wealth Capital have used their annual Rent-Free Christmas program to provide free rent in December for 58 deserving families. As part of the program, 14 families also received a full Christmas package, including food vouchers and presents for the whole family. Awards & Accolades 2. CDC Small Business Finance is the No. 1 U.S. Small Business Administration lender among 7A and 504 firms for fiscal year 2021. It is also Arizona SBA 504 Lender of the Year for the fourth straight year. A total of $793.7M was financed in commercial real estate,…

Sales Transactions 1. Monarch Alternative Capital, in partnership with Tourmaline Capital Partners, reportedly has plans to buy four of the Esplanade buildings in Phoenix’s Camelback Corridor from Clarion Partners and LBA Reality. The price is estimated at approximately $385M. 2. JLL has closed the sale of Block 23, a mixed-use, live-work-play asset in downtown Phoenix. JLL represented the seller, an affiliate of RED Development, and procured the buyer, City Office REIT, Inc. The sale sets a new per square foot record in the city for multi-tenant office trades. The JLL Capital Markets team representing the seller was led by Ben Geelan and Kevin…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX A new adaptive reuse project in Mesa could rehabilitate a vacant four-story medical office building and add a new three-story structure at 560 W. Brown Road that, when completed, would deliver 103 new apartment units. The Mesa Board of Adjustment voted 6-0 at its December 1st meeting to approve a Substantial Conformance Improvement Permit request from Phoenix Devco LLC. Area Overview The area is ripe for redevelopment and renovation. An overview report using data from Yardi Matrix shows the three-mile area around the project site has been as hard-hit as everywhere else by the current…

The Maricopa City Council took up the issue of funding for a new Police Administration Building and Emergency Communication Center at its December 7th meeting. According to the agenda notes on the City website, the item was to “discuss and take action to approve a budget not to exceed $25,388,785 for the new Police Administration Building and Emergency Communication Center and to revise project #38049 to solely include the construction, IT/Communications, and complete outfitting… of the new Police Administration Building and Emergency Communication Center.” Results of the meeting were not available at press time. The updated and upgraded headquarters and…

The Phoenix Business Journal is reporting Carvana’s $25M purchase of the 150-acre Cactus Commerce Center at the NEC of Cactus and Litchfield roads could become a 200KSF reconditioning and inspection center for its vehicle offerings. The news outlet obtained documents from the City of Surprise detailing “Project Oliver,” in which Carvana would build a $64.5M assembly line-style inspection and refurbishment facility. Typical steps in the process would be oil changes, tire and brake service, repainting and other standard maintenance and minor repair services before vehicles are photographed for listing on Carvana’s website and stored for future delivery to one of…