Author: BEX Staff

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to a record low of 3.4% in May, down from 3.6% in April, according to the latest report published by the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity. The national unemployment rate increased over the month, rising to 4.0% from 3.9%. Last May, Arizona had a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.7%. The national rate was also 3.7%. The Arizona Construction sector lost 400 jobs over the month. Arizona had a not-seasonally adjusted loss of 10,300 in nonfarm employment jobs. “Prior to the pandemic (2010-2019), NSA nonfarm employment lost 6,700 jobs on…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX Developer BET Investments, Inc. is requesting a planned area development amendment that would allow it to build a projected 463 units of mixed residential types on a 42.4-acre parcel near the SEC of the Cotton Road alignment of the future Loop 303 freeway and Lower Buckeye Road in Goodyear. The site is one parcel of the overall El Cidro PAD, which has been amended eight times since its original adoption in 2007. According to the submitted narrative, Willow at El Cidro Ranch is “an approximately 463-unit residential community, comprising a mix of single-family detached, single-family…

By Arizona Department of Transportation The State Transportation Board has approved the 2025-2029 Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program, which emphasizes pavement and bridge improvements and expanding several key highways. The final 2025-2029 Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program is available for review at azdot.gov/FiveYearProgram. The $8.2B program puts a major emphasis on improving highway pavement and bridge infrastructure throughout greater Arizona, which encompasses areas outside of Maricopa and Pima counties. The plan provides more than $2.5B for these high-priority improvements during the next five years. This amounts to an average investment of approximately $500M/year to preserve, rehabilitate and replace pavement and…

Giving Back 1. Taylor Morrison built and donated homes to house 80 patients at Banner MD Cancer Center in Gilbert. 2. Greenlight Communities announced it has surpassed the charitable milestone of more than $100K in donations since starting its Greenlight Gives Initiative. Most recently, the program donated $3K in cash and more than $1K in in-kind donations to Save the Family, sponsoring a “Making a House a Home” drive to collect essential items for move-in kits. Awards & Accolades 3. Sundt Construction has climbed 11 spots in Engineering News-Record’s 2024 Top 400 Contractors List to reach No. 51. The rankings…

Sales Transactions 1. A joint venture between George Oliver Companies and Ascentris has paid $8M for a 16.3KSF former Wells Fargo building at 4167 N. Scottsdale Road. The property had been listed by JLL, and the purchase was made directly. GO officials say the site will be used as a restaurant space to serve as a value-add to another recently purchased space at 4141 N. Scottsdale Road. 2. Marcus & Millichap announced the $5M sale of a 35KSF net-leased warehouse property at 841 S. 71st Ave. in Phoenix. M&M’s Paul Berkner listed the property for seller 841 Company, LLC. Chris…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX – BEXclusive A proposal to rezone and expand an existing data center in Chandler will eliminate an outdated, water-intensive cooling system, resulting in significantly lower usage and adding 243KSF of new space. CBRE Investment Management has requested a rezoning from light industrial to planned area development and approval for a preliminary development plan for a data center on 14.5 acres at 2500 W. Frye Road. The data center was part of a campus acquired by Bank of America in 2008, according to the staff report. In 2019, BofA split the parcel and sold the data…

By BEX Staff for AZBEX Caliber Companies’ long-standing attempt to develop a residential mixed-use community on 6.6 acres on 92nd Street near Shea Blvd. will go back before the Scottsdale Development Review Board this week. According to local news reports, the latest proposal for Mercado Village features 255 multifamily units, 13KSF of coworking space and on-site live/work units. The planned three-story residential component would wrap around an existing structure. Planned amenities include a fitness center and a rooftop pool. Caliber has submitted various proposals for the development and started the approval process before. The redevelopment plan was originally known as…

By Associated Builders and Contractors Construction input prices decreased 0.9% in May compared to the previous month, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data. Nonresidential construction input prices decreased 0.8% for the month. Overall construction input prices are 2.1% higher than a year ago, while nonresidential construction input prices are 2.2% higher. Prices decreased in two of the three energy subcategories last month. Crude petroleum prices were down 8.7%, while unprocessed energy materials prices decreased 6.6%. Natural gas prices were up by 1.7%. “For contractors, this data provides excellent…

Following a contentious bidding war, 521.6 acres of land in Flagstaff went for $17.5M in an Arizona State Land Department auction earlier this month. The property is situated south of Interstate 40 west of University Heights and surrounds the Equestrian Estates community. The minimum bid for the site was $11.38M. After four bidders presented a total of 27 bids, Scott Roberts of Roberts Communities, Roberts Resorts and Ascent Real Estate Holdings came out on top. Roberts has properties in Arizona and at least five other states, and his businesses focus on manufactured homes, luxury RV sites, and outdoor and RV…

Groundbreakings 1. Cushman & Wakefield announced the start of construction for Shorehaven, a 724-unit multifamily community in Tempe. Shorehaven is the first phase of the $1.8B South Pier master plan that will offer residential, dining, entertainment, shopping, hotel and office spaces. 2. Ryan Companies will begin construction on the three-building, 432KSF Schrader Farms Business Park at the NWC of McQueen and Queen Creek roads in Chandler after having purchased the property. Ryan was represented by Pat Harlan, Kyle Westfall and Jason Moore of JLL. The seller was represented by JLL’s Steve Larsen and Bill Honsaker. Ryan will develop and build…