Author: BEX Staff

By BEX Staff for AZBEX The City of Casa Grande wants to rezone 14.94 acres in the Donovan M. Kramer Airport Industrial Park for CTE Properties LLC can build a custom/vocational truck manufacturing and sales facility. Casa Grande has purchase agreements in place with CTE for two parcels, one of which is zoned general industrial and one zoned garden and light industrial. The rezoning would rezone the general industrial site to match the other so they can be replatted as a single property for the project. Mayor Craig McFarland told a local news outlet the City wants to create revenue…

A plan by Gravity Storage LLC to build a 3,000MW hydroelectric renewable energy project 35 north of Kingman has Mohave County officials concerned about potential impacts on regional water supplies. The Red Lake project would create two reservoirs 2.4 miles apart, each with a capacity of 26,000 acre-feet. The reservoir at the higher elevation would cover 275 acres, while the lower would be 273. The water would flow by gravity between the two reservoirs through six turbine generators to produce electricity. The project is the largest of four currently planned by Gravity Storage. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission accepted a…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX The Phoenix City Council recently voted to approve a rezoning request from intermediate commercial to light industrial uses for a 3.84-acre site approximately 100 yards south of the SEC of Bell Road and 21st Avenue. The site is located in Sunbelt Investment Holdings, Inc.’s Bell 17 Business Center, which makes up approximately 82 acres and occupies most of the area between Bell and Grandview roads to the north and south and 19th and 23rd avenues to the east and west. The property is a mix of both vacant and developed sites with commercial, light industrial…

By BEX Staff for AZBEX After protracted arguments as to where to build a new parking garage for downtown Scottsdale, City Council has chosen a compromise path that will construct both options. The debate started after Scottsdale voters approved a $20.9M bond issue in 2019 that included three possible locations for the garage. All three locations were south of Indian School, which made the usefulness for downtown somewhat suspect. Local news sources report that in April of this year, Public Works Director Dan Worth presented a proposal that would build garages in the northeast and southeast quadrants of downtown, one…

The City of Prescott is considering a nearly 70% increase in home construction impact fees. City Council held a study session earlier this week and then unanimously voted to hold a hearing in August and scheduled a vote to approve or reject the measure in its Oct. 8 meeting. Councilmembers said the increases were necessary because Prescott has not incrementally adjusted fees over time as it could have done. Members and staff from Raftelis—the City’s financial consultant—said the increases in both utility and non-utility fees were necessary to meet needs listed in the City’s Capital Improvement Plan and to address…

By Associated Builders and Contractors Associated Builders and Contractors reported its Construction Backlog Indicator increased to 8.4 months in June, according to an ABC member survey conducted June 20 to July 3. The reading is down 0.5 months from June 2023. The entire decline in backlog observed over the past calendar year is attributable to the Middle States and Northeast. Backlog in the South and West regions was unchanged between June 2023 and June 2024. ABC’s Construction Confidence Index readings for sales and staffing levels fell slightly in June, while the reading for profit margins improved. All three readings remain…

Awards & Accolades 1. Wespac Construction, Inc. announced that Rio Yards, a 157KSF office shell at Novus Innovation Corridor in Tempe, was awarded LEED Silver Certification by the USGBC. 2. Mesa’s 28KSF Gateway Library has won a 2024 Library Interior Design Award from the Commercial Interior Design Association and the American Library Association. The library was designed by Richärd Kennedy Architects and White Baux Studio Interior Design. Groundbreakings 3. American Battery Factory, Inc., a spinoff of Lion Energy, has broken ground in preparation for starting construction this fall on the $1B gigafactory in Tucson. The facility has a power-supply agreement…

The Mesa City Council will meet this week to discuss entering into a memorandum of understanding with a developer to build a new 100-unit apartment complex and multistory parking garage on the site of a City-owned surface parking lot at the SEC of Pepper Place and MacDonald. Developer Habitat Fenix, LLC submitted an unsolicited proposal to the City to develop Eco Mesa East on Mesa’s “Green Lot,” a 105-space surface parking facility. Habitat Fenix is a partnership between Habitat Metro—developer of the existing Eco Mesa apartment community—and Fenix Private Capital Group. Eco Mesa was built on the City’s former “Purple…

The Aztec-themed Fry’s Electronics store at Thunderbird Road and Interstate 17 will make way for the new home of the Phoenix Police Department’s Cactus Park Precinct and a new fire station. The City of Phoenix has not disclosed how much it is paying for the 12.5-acre property, but the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office lists the full cash value at $20.8M and a limited property value of $16.5M. The purchase is made possible, at least in part, by voter approval of a $500M bond package last November, which included $214M for police, fire, streets and pedestrian infrastructure. Officials say the existing…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX Developer MK Company, Inc. (operating as Canoa Preserve Development Partners LLC) is requesting a conditional use permit that will allow for a 48-room resort development on 30 acres near Continental and Green Valley in Pima County. The property is part of the Canoa Preserve Final Plat and lies east of South Camino de la Canoa, approximately two miles south of Whitehouse Canyon Road and one mile east of Interstate 19. Platted but vacant subdivisions are located to the north, south and east, while the land to the west is undeveloped, according to the Pima County…