Author: BEX Staff

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange Tempe’s next skyscraping mixed-use is a step closer to reality following the Development Review Commission’s approval of a submittal for The Hayden – a 22-story hotel, condo and restaurant project proposed for the NWC of 6th Street and College Avenue. The 0.4-acre site is currently occupied by one- and two-story office buildings, which will be demolished when development begins. The new plan calls for a 22-story tower that will house 186 hotel rooms and suites, as many as 60 condominiums, a lobby to be shared by both the hotel and the private residences,…

Awards & Accolades 1. Business Insider has recently named Tempe City Hall, or Tempe Municipal Building, as the ugliest building in the Arizona. Along with the city hall were a few “dishonorable mentions”, showcasing the Century Link Tower and BMO Tower in Phoenix. Groundbreakings 2. Great Wolf Lodge broke ground last week to mark the start of construction on its latest water park and family entertainment center in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale. 3. Western States Lodging recently broke ground on its third community in the Phoenix metropolitan area with Legacy Village of Salt River, located at Pima Center in Scottsdale. 4. Work is scheduled to begin next…

Awards & Accolades 1. Cooper Fratt of CBRE has been named 2018 Chairman for the NAIOP Arizona Developing Leaders. 2. For the eighth year, CBRE is No. 1 on the Phoenix Business Journal’s Commercial Real Estate Appraisers list. The company had 1,520 appraisal jobs last year. Boards & Commissions 3. Achieve60AZ selected Rachel Yanof as its first executive director. Achieve60AZ is an alliance of nearly 100 business, philanthropic, education and community organizations. Its main goal is for 60 percent of Arizona adults age 25 to 64 to earn a professional certificate or college degree by 2030. 4. The Tucson Metro Chamber board has named Amber…

By Connor Dziawura for West Valley View The Gates at Goodyear Ballpark is coming soon. The new high-rise condominiums are set for a spot adjacent to Goodyear Ballpark. The idea has been forming for the past two years, according to Andra Fair, CEO of Fair Development. The idea, he said, was given to him by his land partner, David Byrd, who owns and operates several hotels in Goodyear. The plan was adapted from a previous mixed-use development of Fair’s that he said was shelved. “What we did was that we took the components from my mixed-use development and we put…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange If we don’t build it – and maintain it, and repair it – they won’t come, and we can’t go. But we can’t build, maintain or repair it if we don’t fund it. If you will forgive a litany of mixed metaphors, this is not a chicken and egg problem. It is the direct result of decades of childish “neener, neener” level finger pointing and kicking the can down the road in the political hope that complicated and nuanced political and economic issues will become someone else’s problems. That’s not a partisan statement.…

Sales Transactions 1. Rich Uncles NNN REIT Inc. of Costa Mesa, Calif. expanded into the Phoenix market through a $26.5M purchase of AvAir’s headquarters. The 163KSF creative office/warehouse space is located at 6877 and 6971 West Frye Road in Chandler. Andy Ogan of Lee & Associates Arizona brokered the sale. The seller, Reasons Aviation LLC, was assisted by John Hink of Tiffany & Bosco P.A. 2. ABI Multifamily announced the $12.2M sale of the 288-unit garden-style, The Quails Apartments at 1120 E Irvington Road in Tucson. The ABI Multifamily Team of Alon Shnitzer, Lance Parsons and Ryan Kippes handled the transaction. The…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate nudged upward in December to 4.5 percent, up from 4.3 percent in November. The October number had also been 4.5 percent, according to the latest report published by the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity. The national rate remained steady at 4.1 percent. The state had a net gain of 5,700 non-farm jobs over the month. Most of the gains came from Manufacturing, which added 2,900. Eight of the 11 sectors tracked reported gains. The three sectors with losses were Government (-3,800), Education & Health Services (-500) and Natural…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange It looks as though they’re probably going with A. When Stockdale Capital Partners, LLC secured approval for a massive mixed-use project on the Scottsdale Waterfront a year-and-a-half ago, they had two options under consideration. Alternative A consisted of 240 condos, a 269-room hotel and up to 31KSF of commercial space. Alternative B had no hotel, 416 multifamily units and 20KSF of commercial. (AZBEX; June 24, 2016). Some Scottsdale City Council members at the time expressed a preference for Alternative A, but the matter was left unresolved when the zoning and authorization to enter…

Groundbreakings 1. Sletten Construction has started remodeling work at the former Reynolds school location in southeast Tucson. A.23studios is the architect for owner Sonoran Schools. When completed in May, the project will have brought a school that had been shuttered for 10 years back into compliance. 2. Plaza Cos. has broken ground on a $16M, 64KSF medical office project on Banner Health’s Banner Estrella Medical Campus in the West Valley. The property is expected to open in December. 3. Groundbreaking for the Third Avenue Parking Garage Expansion at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center was January 2. The design-build project team is JE Dunn…

Awards & Accolades 1. AZ Big Media has published its list of “20 in their 20s in Commercial Real Estate”: Patrick Anthon, NAI Horizon; Justin Beall, Layton Construction; James “Jimmy” Crawley, Marcus & Millichap; Jaymee Geelan, Quarles & Brady; Nicole Hanson, Squire Patton Boggs; Tim Hurley, JLL; Justin Kinsler, Alexander Building Company; Jordan G. Kravitz, HKS Inc.; Sean Lieb, SRS Real Estate Partners; Cole Malham, SiteWorks; Chelsea McCaw, EPS Group Inc.; Cameron Miller, Evergreen Devco, Inc.; Matthew Pickering, LevRose Commercial Real Estate; Matthew Reeg, Southwest Traffic Engineering; Hannah Sanders, AME Landscape Companies; Massimo “Max” Sommacampagna, Somma Realty; Robert Takahashi, Silver Fern Companies; Andrew Veatch, SimonCRE;…