Author: BEX Staff

Source: Rio Nuevo The Rio Nuevo Board unanimously approved an investment in one of the biggest projects in the history of the District. The Bautista, a $72.5M, mixed-use development near West Cushing Street and South Linda Avenue, will include 16.5KSF of retail space, 253 residential units and a restaurant. The central plaza of the development will allow visitors to walk to the Santa Cruz River, which now flows year-round. Other water features will harken back to canals associated with 18th-century farms that were in the area. After a request from Adam Weinstein, president and CEO of The Gadsden Company, the…

Source: Associated Builders and Contractors Associated Builders and Contractors reported that its Construction Backlog Indicator fell to 8.9 months in September 2019, down 0.1 months or 0.8 percent from August 2019, when CBI stood at nine months. “Today’s backlog reading indicates that pre-existing trends will remain in place,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “In recent months, public construction spending has fueled industry spending growth, while private construction spending has steadily faded. This mirrors ABC’s backlog indicator segment data, as infrastructure contractors collectively reported a rising backlog while other segments declined compared to the Spring 2018 peak.” “Backlog associated with…

Awards & Accolades 1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized 30 clean water and 25 drinking water infrastructure projects for excellence within the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) programs. Among those recognized is the innovative water reuse project being in the Town of Marana in Southern Arizona. This year’s honored projects include large wastewater infrastructure upgrades, community driven green infrastructure development and the construction of new water treatment plants. Several projects also include lead service line replacement, furthering EPA’s goals to protect human health under the Federal Lead Action Plan. Groundbreakings 2.…

By Rebekah Morris for AZBEX Maricopa County Facilities Management continues to build facilities that serve the community with plans for upcoming capital projects at two animal care and control facilities and the Southeast Consolidated Justice Center and Adult Probation Facility. According to the annual Capital Improvement Program research recently completed by BEX staff, Maricopa County remains steady as the fifth largest public agency in the state with regards to capital spending. The current CIP pegs the 5-year spend by the agency at $1.418B. This appears to be a consistent allocation as it is nearly unchanged over the last three years.…

By Maria Vasquez for Eloy Enterprise Last month Community Development Director Jon Vlaming presented City Council with a draft of amendments made by city staff as well as a private landowner. City staff was involved in updating selected elements and chapters while the private landowner requested a land use map change from light industrial to general industrial on approximately 397 acres located along Sunland Gin Road between Frontier Street and Interstate 10. The area is for the proposed Interstate 10-8 Business Park and with the change it would permit all industrial, employment and commercial use. One of the landowners surrounding…

By Alison Steinbach for The Arizona Republic The Arizona Department of Transportation plans to extend State Route 24 in southeast Mesa, given its proximity to the growing Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport region. The plan is to add another five miles to Ironwood Drive in Pinal County. State and federal agencies are finalizing design plans, and road construction is expected to begin next fall. The extension should open in 2022, according to ADOT. The project is budgeted at about $260M and is funded with a mix of local, state and federal funds. The extension will feature two lanes in each direction with…

By Chris Caraveo for Independent Newsmedia Maricopa County officials are looking ahead to another five years of planning for roadway improvements. The Maricopa County Department of Transportation is doing so through the Transportation System Plan 2040. The plan sets the framework of the future transportation system as population, development, technology, and other factors impact the country’s fourth-most populous county. The plan will evaluate roadway needs, set performance measures, and provide a clear vision through 2040. MCDOT said the TSP 2035 focused on capacity-driven needs. However, TSP 2040 will incorporate recent MCDOT planning efforts to inform a broader scope of needs.…

By Roland Murphy for ABI Multifamily As a reporter and an analyst, you are always on the lookout for things like riots, fires and mudslides because they’re riveting to report and write about. As someone who actually cares about the areas you cover, you want things to be slow, incremental and even placid. Q3 gave a fair amount of both and, unusually, did it in all the markets we cover. Following is a quick look at many of the happenings we’ve been following. National Rents In major markets across the U.S., rent growth has slowed or retreated slightly. While we…

Source: Associated Builders and Contractors Construction input prices remained unchanged on a monthly basis in October but are down 2.2 percent year-over-year, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data released. Nonresidential construction input prices fell 0.1 percent for the month and are down 2.0 percent compared to the same time last year. Falling energy prices accounted for much of the year-over-year price decline. Among the eight subcategories that decreased, the most significant were in natural gas (-31.8 percent), crude petroleum (-29.8 percent) and unprocessed energy materials (-26.3 percent). Monthly…

Awards & Accolades 1. Gould Evans + Canary was honored with the 2019 AIA Arizona Firm of the Year award. Notable award-winning and current projects include the Salt River-Pima Maricopa Indian Community Justice Center, the reimagining of Arizona State University’s Sun Devil Stadium, The Biodesign Institute A+B at Arizona State University, the City of Phoenix 7th Avenue Streetscape, Maricopa County South Court Tower, the South-Central Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Business Assistance and Land Use Planning Grant (City of Phoenix), and the Phoenix Central Station Transit and Mixed-Use Redevelopment currently in design. 2. AZCREW, the leading organization for senior-level executive women…