Author: BEX Staff

Awards & Accolades 1. Mesa’s Gilbert Road Light Rail Extension was among the most significant construction project of 2020, the Associated General Contractors of America announced. As a result, the project’s contractor, Stacy and Witbeck/Sundt, a Joint Venture received the association’s Construction Risk Partners Build America Merit Award for best new highway and transportation project. Groundbreakings 2. Graycor Construction Company has started construction on a new Class A hangar building at SkyBridge – a major master planned development at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport that is slated to become the nation’s first-ever joint U.S. and Mexico inland port and customs processing hub.…

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX The City of Mesa recently approved plans for a new 45.8KSF medical office building and clinic at its February 12th Planning and Zoning meeting. The applicant and architect on the project, Surgery Center Services of America, on behalf of developer, LMAD Development LLC, requested site plan approval for the currently vacant +/-4.5-acre site at 143 S. 63rd Street, in order to construct the one- to two-story LMAD Medical Office Building. According to the site plan submitted to the city, the project will be developed in two phases. The first phase consists of a 15.7KSF single-story…

Source: Arizona Builders Alliance Women totaled more than half of U.S. payroll jobs last December, just the second time women have outnumbered men in the workforce, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Yet while women made up just a fraction of the construction workforce at nearly 10 percent in 2018, that number is on the rise. In particular, we have seen an influx of women in craft professional roles, increasing from 3 percent of the workforce to 12 percent between 2013 and 2018, according to ABC’s 2019 Workforce Development Survey. That’s because construction offers numerous career opportunities with competitive salaries — especially compared…

By Bennito L. Kelty for Yuma Sun Officials are keeping a close eye on Arizona House Bill 2814, with the hopes of alleviating the inequality between rural and urban economic development in Arizona. “There’s one area of statistics that is worse in Arizona than in any other state, and that is the disparity between our metro areas and our rural area,” said Julie Engel, the director of the Greater Yuma Economic Development Corporation. “Our rural areas have not recovered to pre-recession levels, and they haven’t even hit their pre-2007 GDP or labor force numbers. Some of these people are losing access to…

Source: Associated Builders and Contractors The construction industry added 42,000 net new jobs in February, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has expanded by 223,000 jobs, an increase of 3.0 percent. Nonresidential construction employment increased by 19,800 jobs on net in February and is up by 139,900 net jobs over the last 12 months. There were job gains in all three nonresidential segments, with the largest increase in nonresidential specialty trade contractors, which added 13,400 jobs. Remaining job additions were split evenly…

Giving Back 1. The Sundt Foundation awarded nearly $27K in grants to 11 Southern Arizona nonprofits during its first-quarter disbursements. The Sundt Foundation awards grants each quarter to area charities that support disadvantaged children and families. Nonprofits are selected through an application process and reviewed by a committee of Sundt employee-owners. 2. CBRE Tucson rolled up their sleeves on Saturday, March 7th to build a home on Women Build Day. Women Build challenges and empowers women from all walks of life to help build affordable homes, hope and opportunity for hardworking, local families. Boards & Commissions 3. The Arizona Builders…

Sales Transactions 1. Cohen Asset Management purchased the West 202 Logistics Center, a 554KSF industrial development leased to Amazon at 59th Avenue and Lower Buckeye in Phoenix for $61M. Trammell Crow Company was the seller. 2. TruAmerica Acquisitions III, LLC purchased Mission Springs Apartments, a 306-unit, 216.2KSF multifamily asset at 1311 W. Baseline Road, Tempe, for $54.1M. Jim Crews and Jeems Lochridge from Cushman & Wakefield’s Southwest Multifamily Advisory Group served as exclusive advisors to the seller, 29SC Mission Springs, LP. 3. Bridge Investment Group purchased Country Club Verandas, a 348-unit complex at 1415 N. Country Club Drive, Mesa, for…

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX Pew & Lake, PLC, on behalf of The Victoria Lund Foundation, recently submitted documents to the Town of Gilbert for the development of a new mixed-use project to be located at the SEC of Val Vista Drive and Mercy Road. The owner is requesting a Minor General Plan Amendment and rezoning approval to change the 8.97-acre site from General Office to General Commercial and Business Park with PAD Overlay in order to allow the construction of approximately 97.7KSF of building space. The owner also submitted a preliminary plat to subdivide the site into five lots.…

By Rebekah Morris for AZBEX Last week, the 2019-2020 ACE Mentor program awarded more than $38K in scholarships to high school students pursuing careers in Architecture, Construction and Engineering. As part of a national program, the Phoenix Affiliate organizes, raises scholarship funds and mentors dozens of students each year with a real-life problem statement over the course of four months, culminating in a Student Showcase where the teams present their proposed solution. Similar to the college level Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Reno Competition, teams are presented with a problem statement that asks them to think through design challenges, budgets,…

By David Wichner for Arizona Daily Star A four-story, 100-room hotel is planned for the UA Tech Park at the Bridges, where work is officially underway for the University of Arizona’s first tech-related building on the site. Tech Parks Arizona has finalized a deal with HSL Properties to develop a Marriott-branded hotel at the corner of Kino Parkway and Tucson Marketplace Boulevard, Carol Stewart, associate VP for Tech Parks Arizona, said. The hotel, which will also have meeting space for public, private and academic users — is projected to break ground in July and open in July 2021. Stewart and…