Author: BEX Staff

Awards & Accolades 1. Two of Achen-Gardner’s projects were selected as Projects of the Year by the Arizona Chapter American Public Works Association. The Twin Peaks-Blue Bonnet Road Gravity Sewer Design-Build project for Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department was selected as the Project of the Year in the Environment, $5M But Less Than $25M category. The Valencia Road Manhole Rehabilitation project for Pima County RWRD was selected as the Project of the Year in the Disaster or Emergency Construction/Repair, Less than $5M category. These projects were featured in the awards video on the AZ APWA Conference website. 2. Rosendin,…

By Rebekah Morris for AZBEX Is the third time a charm for Tempe to Redevelop Iconic Mill Site? The City has recently issued a development RFP for the site; proposals are due Thursday, November 4th, 2021 at 3pm. The City first purchased the property in 2003 and has since been looking for a private development partner to activate the site into a community amenity with multiple uses. Two previous agreements have expired without any development happening on the parcel. The most recent iteration was a development agreement with Baum Development that was initially approved by City Council in 2014. The…

An office-centric mixed-use development near State Farm Stadium recently took another step forward when Glendale City Council approved two agreements with Plaza Cos. to start preliminary planning work. Glendale will pay the developer $176K for a marketing plan and engineering design services. Other agreements are in the works. The developer will generate a set of rules detailing what will be allowed in the development. The covenants, conditions and restrictions will include design standards. Plaza Cos. also will create a phasing and site plan that will direct engineering, street design and infrastructure. (Source)

Discussions between Tucson Electric Power Co., the City of Tucson and other stakeholders over the planned overhead installation of the Kino to DeMoss-Petrie 138-kilovolt Transmission Line project will continue into the new year. After ongoing controversy swirled around the proposal, TEP requested a 90-day continuance to a planned September 13th hearing before the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee. Scheduling conflicts caused the continuance to extend to February. TEP wants to install the overhead line to connect a substation near 36th Street and Kino Parkway to another substation at I-10 and Grant Road. Some towers along the route…

Having recently sold off The Stewart luxury apartment development on Central Avenue for $125.5M, The Empire Group/Aspirant Development is setting its sights on building Arizona’s tallest tower: The Astra Phoenix. The proposed 47-story, 535-foot tower on 2nd Avenue is one of two planned for the development and will supplant the 483-foot Chase Tower as the tallest in the state. Astra Phoenix will cost approximately $450M to build, according to Empire Group officials, with projected rents exceeding $3/SF. Groundbreaking is planned for next year, opening in 2024, and full completion in 2025. The Opportunity Zone-located development will feature 400 luxury apartments…

The need for new housing units in the Phoenix area is greater than at any point in recent memory. Demand has steadily outpaced supply, leading to year-over-year rent increases of 17.7 percent in May and likely dropping the region from 29th to 38th on Zillow’s list of most affordable metro areas. Despite an estimated need for 150,000 rental units by 2030, building has fallen from a high of nearly 106,000 units in the 1980s to an average of 47,000 per decade since. Even though the need is widely recognized as urgent, however, resistance to new development, particularly in multifamily, is…

Data center developments has taken off around the country. Recent data from JLL shows construction increasing from 611.8MW at the end of 2020 to a First Half 2021 volume of 680.8MW. The record pipeline was set in First Half 2020 with 695MW distributed across 14 markets. Metro Phoenix currently has 32MW under construction, placing it behind Northern Virginia and Northern California but ahead of Salt Lake City and Atlanta. Phoenix will likely continue to benefit from development difficulties in California, including the high cost of power. Despite the increasing appetite for data centers, developers frequently find themselves in competition with…

Company News 1. Capital Asset Management announced it has acquired Valley firm ZELL Commercial Real Estate Services, doubling CAM’s assets with the addition of 50 Arizona commercial properties, for which CAM will take over management and leasing. Promotions 2. Phoenix City Manager Ed Zuercher has named three key additions to his executive team: Kathleen Gitkin as the city’s Chief Financial Officer; Steen Hambric as Chief Information Officer; and Michael Hammett as the city’s first Chief Innovation Officer. 3. Sundt Construction, Inc., promoted Nick Favia to assistant project manager in its Tempe office. For the last two years, Favia has served…

Sales Transactions 1. LPC Desert West announced the 1.25MSF Park 303 Phase I in Glendale has sold for $186M to BentallGreenOak, making it the largest single-building industrial transaction in state history. The speculative project completed construction approximately a month ago and has been fully leased to a major retailer. The tenant was represented by Ed Lampitt, Mike Haenel, Andy Markham and Phil Haenel of Cushman and Wakefield. Will Strong of Cushman and Wakefield represented LPC. LPC will continue to provide property management services. 2. The Empire Group/Aspirant Development has sold the 312-unit The Stewart Apartments in downtown Phoenix to New…

By Rebekah Morris for AZBEX Holoualoa Companies has plans in a bustling area of north Tempe for workforce housing in the form of a 129-unit multifamily development. The 2.06-acre complex at the NWC of Farmer Avenue and Fifth Street will be comprised of studio and one-bedroom units. Currently on site are office buildings, including that of Architekton, who is acting as the design architect on this project, while WORKSBUREAU is the Architect of Record. The offices will remain intact with the housing being redeveloped around them. If all goes according to plan, the project could break ground as early as…