Author: BEX Staff

Source: Rio Nuevo Adam Weinstein, president and CEO of The Gadsden Company, asked the Rio Nuevo Board to help finance The Bautista, a $72M, mixed-use project on the West Side. When completed, the Bautista will sit along what will soon be a year-round flowing section of the Santa Cruz River. This mid-rise project, near West Cushing Street and South Linda Avenue, includes 16.5KSF of retail space, 253 residential units and a restaurant. The two main buildings are designed around a central linear plaza lined with shops and restaurants that connect the buildings and surrounding streets to the riverfront. Water features…

Source: Associated Builders and Contractors Associated Builders and Contractors reported that its Construction Backlog Indicator climbed to nine months in August 2019, up 0.5 months or 5.4 percent from July 2019, when CBI stood at 8.5 months. “Despite some other leading indicators suggesting weakening in nonresidential construction spending, our most recent backlog readings show that contractors are still experiencing significant demand for construction services” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “The primary issue for most contractors is not a lack of demand, but an ongoing and worsening shortage of skilled workers available to meet contractual requirements.” “Though this month’s report…

Groundbreakings 1. Lincoln Property Company (LPC), Harvard Investments, dignitaries from the City of Mesa and business and community leaders joined to celebrate the groundbreaking of the first office building at Union, a new project that – at build out – will total 1.35MSF in four Class A office buildings at Dobson Road and Rio Salado Parkway. Completion of Building 1 is scheduled for October 2020. DAVIS is the project architect and Wespac is the general contractor. 2. High Street Residential, the residential subsidiary of Trammell Crow Company, and its partner, Principal Real Estate Investors, announced that construction has begun on…

By Sammy Williams for AZBEX If your Starbucks run includes a PSL (that’s a Pumpkin Spice Latte), then it’s a sure bet the season of Capital Improvement Plans is upon us. To mark this occasion where municipalities debut their fiscal year plans for new construction, expansion and maintenance, BEX hosted more than 200 attendees at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Tempe on Thursday, October 17th at the fourth annual AZBEX Public Works Conference. Not only did attendees gain insight into the public sector and network with industry professionals, they also heard about current and future projects, followed by vendors’ raffle…

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased to 4.9 percent in September, from 5 percent in August 2019, according to the latest report published by the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity. The national rate decreased to 3.5 percent from August. In September 2018, the state had a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.8 percent, and the national was at 3.7 percent. The state had a net gain of 21,900 non-farm jobs over the month, which is lower than the historical 10-year (2009-2018) average gain of 28,500 jobs. Government had the largest increase of jobs with 12,100, followed…

Source: AZ Big Media The rising cost of college is putting new emphasis on helping young people find alternative career paths that won’t leave them heavily in debt. The 18th annual Arizona Construction Career Days, held November 7th-8th, aims to expose young people to new career options they may not otherwise have considered that do not necessarily require a college degree. Rosendin, the nation’s largest employee-owned electrical contracting company, will offer participating students several hands-on demonstrations with technology that has changed the industry, such as computer modeling and augmented reality. Volunteers from the company’s Tempe office will also teach students…

By Rory Carder for Gensler On August 15th, 2019, Gensler Phoenix partnered with the local ULI chapter to bring the local community together to discuss new challenges in workplace design. Some of the Valley’s leaders attended the event, which included a lively panel discussion and follow-up Q&A about workplace issues such as the need for private spaces in the world of open offices, the rise of coworking, and managing a multi-generational talent pool. As the office prepares for our move out of downtown Phoenix, the conversation was particularly relevant. Key Takeaways Choice is an important factor. The work-anywhere, work-anytime culture…

Awards & Accolades 1. Rusty Kennedy of CBRE Group Inc. has been selected to a national list of influential young executives. The 2019 Business Journals’ Influencers: Rising Stars spotlights 100 executives who are having an impact early in their careers on business being done in cities across the nation. Company News 2. Restoration Builders, Inc. announced that it has completed the asset purchase of Elbert Construction, LLC. Promotions 3. AZTEC Engineering Group, Inc. has promoted Javier Damia-Levy to senior vice president and he also joins the company’s Management Board. Javier has been with AZTEC for 10 years and will continue…

Sales Transactions 1. Urban Communities S29, LP, an entity formed by Urban Communities of Phoenix, purchased Standard on 29th Apartments, a 357-unit multifamily housing community located near 29th St. and Indian School in Phoenix, for $30.05M. The NorthMarq Phoenix investment sales team of Trevor Koskovich, Bill Hahn and Jesse Hudson represented both the seller, The Standard-Phoenix LLC, an entity formed by SPL Real Estate, and the buyer. 2. Westmount Realty Capital announced the acquisition of 949 at the District, a 154-unit multifamily community located at 949 S. Longmore St., Mesa for an undisclosed price. 3. Cushman & Wakefield announced that…

By Hayley Ringle for Phoenix Business Journal Axon Enterprise executives have to find a new place to build their planned headquarters after its plans fell through with the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. On Oct. 10, Axon terminated the purchase and sale agreement of the land on which the facility would have been built on the NEC lot off Loop 101 at Talking Stick Way, according to an Oct. 15 U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission filing. “We terminated the agreement because we were unable to secure design approval by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community,” the filing said. Its new…