Author: BEX Staff

By Adrian Skabelund for Arizona Daily Sun Three affordable housing projects that would have been completed this year have been mothballed after the city’s developer encountered delays. The projects had planned to provide the city with as many as 74 affordable rental units in three locations across Flagstaff and would have been built by Brinshore Development. But after the Flagstaff City Council approved the projects, Brinshore encountered a number of challenges that delayed and eventually ended the project, said city housing manager Justyna Costa. One of the challenges was the cost of building in Flagstaff, which was higher than they first expected.…

By Joyce Coronel for Wrangler News A vacant lot at the NWC of Rural and Warner roads stands at the center of a long- swirling controversy that has bitterly divided a South Tempe neighborhood. When a chain link fence popped up days ago along much of the lot’s perimeter, and a large trailer and neatly stacked pile of pipes appeared, area residents began to wonder: Are those four dusty acres about to be developed? They may have missed the small orange sign that sprouted alongside the trailer: The City of Tempe, it turns out, will be working on some water lines in the…

Source: Marcum LLP The Marcum Commercial Construction Index for the fourth quarter of 2019 reports healthy levels of construction spending, in large part due to the ongoing strength in infrastructure-related categories. Nonresidential construction spending stood at an annualized rate of $779.6B in December 2019, down 1.2 percent from the previous month but up 4.4 percent year-over-year. The index is produced by Marcum’s National Construction Services group. Eleven of the 16 nonresidential construction sectors expanded year-over-year, including massive upticks in publicly funded categories like water supply (+33.6 percent), conservation and development (+16.9 percent), highway and street (+14.1 percent), and public safety (+10.1 percent). Spending…

Groundbreakings 1. Tratt Properties LLC has broken ground on a 1.3MSF, Class A industrial development sitting just south of the junction of Interstate 10 and the Loop 303, in a designated Opportunity Zone in Goodyear. Called Elwood Logistics Center, it is the largest speculative industrial building ever to break ground in the Valley. Construction is expected to be complete in December 2020. The Renaissance Companies is the general contractor and Deutsch Architecture Group is the architect. 2. ViaWest Group broke ground on Superior Logistics Center, two Class A, mid-bay industrial buildings, 71.5KSF and 79.2KSF at the NWC of Superior Avenue…

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX The Tucson Airport Authority is looking for a Design Build firm to help design and construct a new hangar to be located on the north side of Aero Park Boulevard in an industrial area of the Tucson International Airport. A Request for Qualifications was recently issued by the Tucson Airport Authority in order to obtain design-build services including, “engineering design, design development, construction document services, project management services, equipment procurement, construction services, installation services, electrical connections, testing services, startup, quality control services, and basic warranty maintenance services,” according to the RFQ. The project is called…

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX BCMA Architecture, on behalf of owner, Abington Emerson Investments, has recently submitted plans to the City of Mesa for a new industrial development to be built north of east Ray Road and east of Power Road, near the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. The project, known as AEI Mesa Gateway, will consist of two, 24-foot tall speculative office warehouse buildings totaling 66.9KSF. The buildings will be approximately 25 percent office with the remainder being warehouse storage. The development will also include, “three main entrances with yards surrounded by eight-foot high CMU screen walls to screen a secure…

By Adrian Skabelund for Arizona Daily Sun Additional field space, a forested area and urban farm or a Native American cultural center. Each idea could be the future for a section of city property on North Mogollon Street that was once home to the public works yard. The property’s future has been in limbo since 2012, when Flagstaff voters approved a bond to build the new public works yard on the city-owned McAllister Ranch parcel. The new facility opened in 2018. In September of last year, the city dismantled most of the buildings occupying the old yard and ripped up…

By Adrian Skabelund for Arizona Daily Star The fees placed on new developments by the City of Flagstaff could increase almost 300 percent this year. The fees are designed to maintain the level of emergency services in the city as the community grows, and according to Flagstaff’s Planning Director Tiffany Antol, those fees haven’t increased in more than a decade. Working with the help of a consultant, Flagstaff determined it would need to bring in more than $10M simply to maintain the current level of emergency services over the next 10 years. About $6.6M of that would be directed to the…

Awards & Accolades 1. Colliers International in Arizona’s Flagstaff office has won two Best of Business 2019 awards from the Flagstaff Business News. They were recognized as the area’s top Commercial Real Estate Agent and the leading Business Broker. Boards & Commissions 2. Sundt’s Vice President and Tucson Regional Director Ian McDowell and Project Director Dave Ollanik have been selected to head two different Tucson organizations. McDowell will serve as the Vice Chairman for the Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors in 2020, moving to the position of Chairman in 2021. Ollanik has been appointed chairman of the…

Sales Transactions 1. Industrial Logistics Properties Trust, a subsidiary of RMR Group purchased an 820KSF distribution center fully leased to Amazon.com Inc. at 16920 W. Commerce Drive, Goodyear, for $72M. 2. Berkadia announced $39M in secured financing for Tides on Thunderbird, a garden-style multifamily property at 2140 W. Thunderbird Road, Phoenix. Jonathan Pratt and Rossana Bouchaya of Berkadia’s D.C. Metro office along with Chris Ellis of Berkadia’s Denver office together secured the acquisition financing on behalf of NorthRock Companies. 3. Element Property Company purchased the Overlook at Pantano Apartments, a 444-unit garden-style apartment community at 1800 S. Pantano Road, Tucson…