Author: BEX Staff

By CBRE  Phoenix offers one of the most favorable development markets for commercial construction in the U.S. according to CBRE’s U.S. Development Opportunity Index. The Valley of the Sun secured the third overall spot on the inaugural list with sector rankings of second for office and multifamily development opportunities, third for industrial and fifteenth for retail.   The report, which analyzed the top 50 U.S. markets by population, scored markets based on four performance categories: construction costs, fundamental strength of existing supply, prior cycle performance and property forecast.   The full report is available here. 

Groundbreakings  1. Bethany Home Industrial, LLC broke ground January 19th on the 653KSF Brooklyn Bedding/Dreamfoam HQ and Manufacturing Building in Glendale. The design build team on the $44.8M project includes Ware Malcomb and Alston Construction.  2. Robert E. Porter broke ground on Air Guitar, a new upscale convenience store “grab and go” concept that showcases healthy food and snack items, premium beer & wine, coffee & tea and more. Located on the NWC of Higley and Ray roads, the 5.3KSF store is designed by debartolo architects. The new bodega-style store brings “Life’s Little Luxuries” under one stylish, beautifully designed roof. The design utilizes a clean environment with light-filled modern spaces. Air Guitar is scheduled to open…

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX  Despite the collective gut-punch that COVID-19 brought in 2020, Arizona’s state economy and construction industry has done really well, and BEX predicts 2021 will be another big year for construction.  Such was the overall takeaway from the BEX 2021 Construction Activity Forecast event, held on Friday, January 15th, via a virtual Zoom webinar.  More than 150 attendees logged in with anticipation to hear the state of the construction industry in 2020, as well as the top projects and players and future outlook in each market sector presented by Rebekah Morris, BEX President & Founder; Rachel Pratt, Vice President of Operations; Kristen Amado, Senior Market Researcher; and Roger Alvarez, Market Researcher.  All…

Economic News Student Housing Seeing Slow Pre-leasing Off-campus student housing properties around the country reported just 25.9 of Fall 2021 units had been pre-leased as of December 2020. At the same period in 2019, 32.4 percent had been pre-leased for Fall 2020. Uncertainty about in-person classes due to the pandemic is a leading contributor for students and parents taking a cautious approach to entering financial commitments on housing that may not be used. (Source)  Real Estate Innovations That are Here to Stay  Companies that wanted to survive the upheavals of the COVID-19 pandemic had to ramp up innovation and adaptability. Real…

By CRG  CRG, the real estate development and investment arm of Clayco, has announced it is developing The Cubes at Glendale, a 335-acre industrial park featuring 5.5MSF at the intersection of Reems Road and Northern Avenue in Glendale.  The project, which is a strategic joint-venture partnership with Bird Dog Industrial, will begin construction of a 1.2MSF speculative warehouse on March 1st. The firm closed on the first 260-acre parcel of land for the development with a second expected to close in the second quarter.   CRG currently has an active pipeline of more than 25 projects valued at more than $3B throughout the country. This project, which went from contract to close in…

CBRE has released its reports on the Industrial and Office markets’ Phoenix-area activity in the Fourth Quarter.  Industrial saw a decrease in quarter-over-quarter vacancies from 6.1 percent to 6.0 percent. During Q4 there were 5.09MSF of net absorption and 8.04MSF of gross absorption. Net absorption for the year was 13.1MSF, the highest ever in Phoenix. Gross absorption came in at 23.7MSF.  Phoenix Industrial construction also set records. 4.7MSF was delivered in Q4, bringing completions for the year to 13.3MSF. Currently, there is 11.1MSF under construction and another nearly 16MSF planned across 74 buildings.  On the office side, quarter-over-quarter vacancy increased to 17.4 percent. Absorption fell 326KSF in…

Awards & Accolades  1. AZ Business Magazine published the 10 Young Business Leaders to Watch in 2021. The CRE leaders on this list include:  Adam Finkel, Principal; Tower Capital  Lindsay Mollenberndt, Chief Business Development and Marketing Officer; Fennemore  Kevin Walsh, Partner; Quarles & Brady  Company News  2. Phoenix-based Shelton Residential has been acquired by Houston-based Asset Living. Asset Living will add Shelton’s 400 employees and more than 17,000 apartment units Shelton has under management in Arizona, Texas, Colorado and New Mexico.  3. HomeServe USA, a leading provider of service plans, repair, and installation services for the home, announced the acquisition of Canyon State Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing (Canyon State). Serving customers in and…

Sales Transactions  1. MG Properties purchased Andante Apartments, a 576-unit, 32-building complex at 15801 S. 48th Street, Phoenix, for $145.25M, from Security Properties. CBRE Capital Markets financed $99.5M in new Fannie Mae debt.  2. Equity LifeStyle Properties purchased the Dolce Vita multifamily residential complex for $90M, from Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.   3. Bluerock Real Estate purchased Cielo on Gilbert, a 432-unit apartment complex at 1710 S. Gilbert Road, Mesa, for $74.25M. The seller was Capital Real Estate.  4. A group of investors that included Keller Investment Properties’ Scott Keller purchased Metro 101 Apartments, a 259-unit multifamily community at 2157 E. Apache Boulevard, Tempe, for $69M, from a group including an affiliate of Southwest Next Capital…

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX A new 1.074MSF distribution warehouse building is being proposed for the NWC of Lower Buckeye Road and Miller Road. LGE Design Build, on behalf of the owner, Creation RE, LLC, submitted plans to the City of Buckeye, requesting site plan approval for the two-phased project known as 10 West Commerce Park. The City of Buckeye approved the site plan at its January 12th Planning Commission meeting. 10 West Commerce Park will sit on approximately 76.35 acres and will consist of a one-story, cross-dock warehouse building with a maximum height of 45 feet. Phase one, which…

By JLL Medical office experts in the Phoenix office of JLL have been selected to market approximately 80KSF of new medical office space planned for one of the last Val Vista Drive-fronting parcels surrounding Dignity Health’s Mercy Gilbert Medical Center in Gilbert. Called Mercy Medical Center, the 80KSF medical office project is being directed by Diversified Partners. It is part of the developer’s new 11-acre mixed-use project which, at completion, will total more than 200KSF of Class A office, retail and restaurant space. Located on 5.03 acres at the SEC of Val Vista Drive and Mercy Road, Mercy Medical Center is immediately…