Author: BEX Staff

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX  Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 10.6 percent in July 2020, from June 2020, according to the latest report published by the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity.   The national rate decreased to 10.2 percent from 11.1 percent in June. In July 2019, the state had a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.7 percent, and the national was at 3.7 percent.  The state had a net loss of 19,500 non-farm jobs over the month. “Historically (2010-2019), Nonfarm employment has averaged a loss of 19,200 jobs in July,” the report states. Leisure & Hospitality had the largest net loss with 16,200 jobs, followed by Government with a loss of 1,500. Construction lost 1,200 jobs over the month. Trade, Transportation & Utilities had the largest net gains with 700 jobs.  Trade, Transportation & Utilities took the top spot in job gains from July 2019 to July 2020 with a total of 6,500, while Leisure & Hospitality took the top spot in job losses over the year with 60,600.  The Construction…

By Blake Herzog for Golden Corridor Living  An 18-month study being launched by Pinal County and the University of Arizona will plot out the county’s future industrial development by identifying where different types of businesses should go for their benefit as well as the region’s.  The study’s aim is to create an Arizona Innovation Technology Corridor that, for now, begins on Interstate 10 at the southern Maricopa County line, includes all of Pinal County’s frontage on Interstates 8 and 10, and continues on I-10 through Tucson before ending at the UA Science and Technology Park.  County Economic Development Director Tim Kanavel said he will be working with Dr. Greg…

Awards & Accolades  1. ENR’s regional Excellence in Safety Award is now in its eighth year and is honoring three projects for their outstanding safety records and jobsite procedures. The Arizona project that won the Excellence in safety, Award of Merit is the I-10 Ina Road Traffic Interchange project in Tucson, which was submitted by Sundt/Kiewit, a Joint Venture. All the winning projects can be found here.  Groundbreakings  2. The City of Goodyear is welcoming Amazon’s newest high-tech facility on Bullard Avenue just north of the I-10. At 855KSF, the new four-story facility is the largest building ever built in Goodyear. With four levels, the building spans more than 2.3MSF. The project is expected to open by…

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX  Developer, Dominium Management recently submitted plans to the City of Phoenix for two separate multifamily residential communities, one of which will be an age restricted community, to be generally located at the NEC of 79th Avenue and Encanto Boulevard.  The current zoning on the approximately 28.26-acre property is C-2 Intermediate Commercial and RSC Regional Shopping Center. Dominium wishes to rezone the property to a Planned Unit Development.  Currently known as the 79th Encanto PUD, the entire project is proposed as a four-building multifamily residential community consisting of 575 total units. According to the project documents, the purpose is to, “facilitate…

Economic News  Online Shopping & Delivery Squeezes Landlords  Digital grocery sales have soared, but potential aftershocks are significant for smaller tenants that occupy grocer-anchored centers that depend on grocers to draw in customers. Those tenants pay higher rents than they would at other retail centers because of traffic exposure — a premium that could evaporate should current trends in online shopping take hold. (Source: Phoenix Business Journal)  Can Empty Offices Help Solve Housing Crisis?  The COVID-19 crisis has emptied office space around the country. An abundance of vacant commercial real estate could be transformed into what the real estate market is most desperately clamoring for: Housing. According to an article at realtor.com, “The…

Source: VanTrust Real Estate  VanTrust Real Estate recently acquired 76.4-acres of land at Sarival Road and Maryland Avenue along the Loop 303 corridor in Glendale.  VanTrust plans to break ground in October on a 660KSF speculative industrial building to be completed in June of 2021. The site offers access to the entire Valley and provides distribution tenants with a convenient transportation corridor to maximize their logistic efficiencies.  “The site is located in close proximity to a growing and skilled labor force, along with prime access to the Loop 303 freeway. In addition, the building’s size offers tremendous opportunity and flexibility,” said Jenna Borcherding, director of development with VanTrust. “There’s…

By Jim Walsh for East Valley Tribune  A developer already has “Surf Mesa’’ tee-shirts printed, hoping that his proposed two-acre “surf lagoon” turns into a regional attraction near Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport.  But while the lagoon is the centerpiece of Cannon Beach, it also includes 475KSF of commercial space, a gym, a climbing wall, a go-cart track, a 65-foot tall hotel and retail space.  All of this would be built only about a mile northwest of the airport, in an overflight area where housing could not be built without a permit because of aircraft noise.  The developer, Cole Cannon, said “there’s a huge, transplanted…

By John Gutekunst for Parker Pioneer  The three members of the U.S. Congress that represent La Paz County have introduced legislation that could add considerably to the land the county had conveyed to them by the Bureau of Land Management.  Sponsored by Arizona U.S. Senators Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema and U.S. District 4 Rep. Paul Gosar, the La Paz County Solar Energy and Job Creation Act will add 4,800 acres of BLM land to the 5,900 acres the county received from the La Paz County Land Conveyance Act.  The land will be used for renewable energy development. It will allow the county to build on its current solar energy project facilitated by the land conveyance bill that was passed in…

Giving Back  1. During its third-quarter disbursement, the Sundt Foundation awarded more than $75K in grants to 25 Phoenix-area nonprofits and more than $23K in grants to nine Southern Arizona nonprofits.  2. The ASU Foundation accepts gifts of real estate and provides the donor with a charitable contribution receipt that may qualify as a tax deduction. The proceeds from the sale of the real estate can help support Arizona State University student scholarships and experiences. The ASU Foundation also accepts philanthropic gifts of industrial, retail and multifamily buildings as well as vacant land.  Awards & Accolades  3. The City of Maricopa received two prestigious awards in the Outstanding Program category from the Arizona Parks…

Sales Transactions  1. Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. purchased the newly constructed, 105-room Hyatt House and 154-room Hyatt Place at 601 E. 6th Street, Tempe, for a gross purchase price of approximately $64.6M. The hotels are part of the initial phase of the Novus Innovation Corridor.  2. Tides on 19th Partners, LLC purchased Nineteen Apartments, a 236-unit, garden-style apartment community at 4802 N. 19th Avenue, Phoenix, for $27M. Brian Smuckler, Jeff Seaman, Derek Smigiel and Bryson Fricke of CBRE in Phoenix represented the seller, Camelback at the Stop, LLC, and the buyer.  3. Taurus Investment Holdings, LLC purchased Avenel on 16th Apartments, a 200-unit apartment community near 16th Street and Indian School Road, Phoenix, for…