Author: BEX Staff

By Shaq Davis for Arizona Daily Star  The Arizona Department of Transportation is in the early process of exploring partnerships that would lead to broadband conduit being installed along three interstate routes.  The department is following an initiative from Gov. Doug Ducey who announced in January that $50M in funding would help achieve 500 miles of broadband lines and fiber optic cabling along highway segments in rural areas of Arizona.  Ducey said these “Smart Highway Corridors” will “improve highway safety while providing future high-speed internet capacity for smart infrastructure projects in Arizona’s rural and tribal areas.”  To start, the installation would affect Interstate 19 between Tucson and Nogales; Interstate 17 between Sunset Point…

By Paul Maryniak for Ahwatukee Foothills News More than 18 months after homeowners in the 185-home Foothills Paseo II subdivision launched an effort to derail a plan for Quik Trip on 40th Street, the gas station giant appears all but certain to win. The city Planning Department is only a few weeks from giving final approval to the controversial project, according to spokeswoman Angie Holdsworth. “It looks like the project is waiting final site review,” she said. “Everything is ready to go pending the approval. It will probably take a couple weeks for that to be completed give or take.”…

Source: AZ Big Media  In the fourth monthly NAIOP survey measuring the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the commercial real estate industry, respondents say that deal activity is improving across most major sectors of the industry, but more now expect impacts from the crisis to affect their businesses for an additional 12-18 months.  “July continued a trend of positive growth in reported industrial, office and multifamily building acquisitions activity, with more respondents reporting having witnessed these deals than in previous months,” said NAIOP President and CEO Thomas J. Bisacquino.   The increase in building acquisitions activity was most notable for industrial properties, with 92.6 percent of respondents witnessing…

By Kelsi Maree Borland for GlobeSt.com  The pandemic isn’t deterring investment in Phoenix, at least not for CapRock Partners. CapRock has pinpointed Phoenix as a target market for industrial investment and development, and it expects the market to continue to benefit from longstanding population and job growth trends, despite the pandemic.  “The demand drivers of Phoenix are very attractive to us,” (said) Bob O’Neill, SVP of acquisitions of CapRock Partners.   While these demand drivers were in place long before the pandemic, O’Neill says the pandemic has brought a new set of drivers that make the market attractive for investment. “We look at the factors that are driving that growth,”…

Awards & Accolades  1. Mark Taylor, Senior Vice President of WestLand Resources, Inc., received AZ Water’s Engineer of the Year. The award recognizes individuals that have gone above and beyond in the water industry.  2. ENR Southwest Top Design Firms 2020:   AECOM  HDR  Kimley-Horn  Stantec  Burns & McDonnell  WSP USA  Carollo Engineers  Gensler  Bohannan Huston Inc.  EPS Group Inc.  Dekker/Perich/Sabatini LTD.   SmithGroup  Terracon Consultants Inc.   Wilson & Co., Engineers & Architects  Atkins, Member of the SNC-Lavalin Group  Souder, Miller & Associates  Gannett Fleming  SWCA Environmental Consultants   Atwell LLC  Stanley Consultants   For a complete list click here.  3. Phoenix Business Journal: 40 under 40 2020:   Vanessa Williams; Director of Business and Market…

Sales Transactions  1. MHP #1, LLC purchased Desert Pueblo Mobile Home Community, 55+ community with 418 spaces at 1302 W. Ajo Way, Tucson, for $30M. Derek Harris of HARRIS Manufactured Housing & Commercial Brokerage represented both the buyer and seller, a family trust from Redwood, California.  2. Exeter Property Group purchased 92 Mountain View, a 116KSF campus, 89 percent leased to CVS Health for $19.2M. The JLL Capital Markets team representing the seller included Ben Geelan, Andrew Milne from the National Healthcare Capital Markets Team and Michael Leggett. The seller, Exeter was represented by John DiVall.   3. Scottsdale Development Partners purchased Shops at Dynamite Creek in Cave Creek for $10.5M.   4. Pulte Homes and Meritage Homes purchased the first phase (260 lots)…

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX  Conceptual plans for a new 24-hour outpatient medical center to be located just west of the NWC of 54th Street and Shea Boulevard have recently been submitted to the City of Phoenix Planned Unit Development & Planned Community District site.  Developer, Anchor Health Properties is requesting to rezone the approximately 3.17-acre site from Planned Area Development-Two, Special Permit to Planned Unit Development to allow for the HonorHealth branded medical center.  Known as HonorHealth Outpatient Medical Center – Shea, the project is proposed to be a single-story, 25KSF hybrid free-standing emergency center with medical office. Approximately 11.5KSF of space will be used for physical…

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News  $100M PPP Payments to Charter Schools Investigated  State Schools Superintendent Kathy Hoffman and Arizona Deputy Auditor General Melanie Chesney are examining whether the $100M in Paycheck Protection Program payments to charter schools in Arizona violate a “rarely enforced” state law prohibiting paying “twice to educate the same pupils”. (Source: AZCentral)  Yuma Considers Increasing Relief Funds  Yuma is looking to increase the amount of COVID-19 relief funds set aside for small businesses. City Council will consider upping the funds by $230K. Last month, the council approved a grant program to help the Yuma small businesses most impacted by the pandemic using a portion of…

Source: Businesswire  Kindred Healthcare, LLC and Dignity Health announced a joint venture to build and operate their second inpatient rehabilitation hospital in the Phoenix market.  Kindred and Dignity Community Care opened Dignity Health East Valley Rehabilitation Hospital in Chandler in 2016. To serve the growing need for inpatient rehabilitation services in Phoenix, Kindred and Dignity determined that developing a second hospital would address increasing demand for these services.  This new 40-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital will be located in Gilbert. The 50KSF, two-story rehabilitation facility will have all private rooms and focus on acute rehabilitation for patients who suffer from stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, complex…

Source: Colliers International  As cases of coronavirus and hospitalizations rose in Greater Phoenix following Memorial Day weekend, the area’s second quarter of real estate market activity was also surging. The medical office market posted its strongest quarter of net absorption in nearly two years and vacancy in this product type dropped 50 basis points.  During second quarter of 2020, approximately 245KSF of new medical office space was added to inventory and only 18 percent of that space is vacant. This was the largest new supply of medical office space delivered since third quarter 2017.   The second quarter brought 192KSF of net absorption. Glendale experienced the strongest…