Author: BEX Staff

By Felicia Fonseca for Arizona Daily Sun The U.S. Forest Service, faced with the slow pace of forest thinning, is seeking proposals to remove dense stands of trees in a wide swath of Arizona to help prevent wildfires. The work is part of the Four Forest Restoration Initiative, the largest project of its kind within the Forest Service. It eventually will cover 3,750 square miles along a prominent line of cliffs that divides Arizona’s high country from the desert. The bidding opened Monday for work on up to 1,278 square miles in parts of the Kaibab, Coconino, Apache-Sitgreaves and Tonto…

Source: Associated Builders and Contractors U.S. construction industry leaders’ confidence diminished somewhat in July 2019, yet they remain optimistic regarding nonresidential construction’s near-term prospects, according to the Construction Confidence Index released by Associated Builders and Contractors. While contractor confidence regarding sales, profits and staffing levels declined for a third consecutive month, all three principal components measured by the survey remained well above the diffusion index threshold of 50. More than 60 percent of contractors expect sales to increase over the coming six months, while more than 56 percent expect staffing levels to increase and 52 percent expect profit margins to…

Groundbreakings 1. A block party and groundbreaking ceremony will be held on October 7th to celebrate the beginning of construction on Thunderbird School of Global Management’s $75M, state-of-the-art global headquarters facility on Arizona State University’s Downtown Phoenix campus. Jones Studio, Inc. is the architect and Okland Construction is the general contractor. Construction is expected to be complete in 2021. 2. Creighton University will mark its commitment to expanding health education in Phoenix with a ceremonial groundbreaking of the nearly $100M, 180KSF home of its new Health Sciences – Phoenix Campus at Park Central, 3100 N. Central Avenue, on September 25th.…

By Mark Cowling for Florence Reminder Blade-Tribune After developing in a mostly haphazard fashion for almost 30 years, there’s now a proposal for master planning Heritage Park for a more rewarding experience. The three baseball fields will remain, but visitors will also be attracted to a new 1.4-acre lake. Big lawns on both the east and west sides of the park may accommodate a variety of recreation and relaxation in the park at the end of North Main Street. A diagonal path will bisect the park, making different sections more accessible and creating space for food trucks, farmer markets and…

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX DBM Ventures is planning a new multifamily development on a vacant site at the SEC of Nevada Street and Commonwealth Avenue in Chandler. The Chandler City Council discussed a request for preliminary development plan approval for the project and an Area Plan Amendment from Business Park/Light Industrial to High Density Residential at its September 9th study session and at its September 12th regular meeting. The project, currently known as Nevada Street & Commonwealth Avenue Apartments, is proposed as a four-story, 231.3KSF multifamily residential development on 5.58 acres. The development will consist of three buildings a…

By Rebekah Morris for AZBEX A rezoning case has been submitted to the City of Scottsdale that would pave the way for a mixed-use development located at 1000 N. Scottsdale Road, the NWC of Continental Drive and Scottsdale Road. The property is south of Papago Plaza and McFate Brewing Company, across the street and slightly south of SkySong. The proposed development would replace the existing Mark Kia dealership with 282 units of apartments and 13.5KSF of retail. Project Description Of the 282 apartment units, 184 are planned to be one-bedroom while 92 are planned as two-bedroom, and six studio apartments…

By Rebekah Morris for AZBEX Mainstreet Scottsdale LLLP has submitted plans to the City of Scottsdale for rezoning and site plan approval to build 121 luxury apartments and nine townhome units on a 2.60-acre parcel directly east of Hotel Valley Ho in a project only known as Mainstreet Residences. Project Description The Scottsdale Residence project is a 121-unit, four-story building with three stories of units over a ground floor that consists of 18 units with direct pedestrian access to the sidewalk, lobby, second floor amenity spaces and covered parking. Additional underground parking is provided. The design elements strive to create…

Awards & Accolades 1. Sundt Construction, Inc. ranks No. 52 on the National Center for Employee Ownership’s Top 100 largest majority-employee-owned companies list. In 1972, Sundt established an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), and today the company is 100 percent employee owned. 2. Corbins Electric has been selected as the 2019 Specialty Contractor of the Year by Engineering New Record (ENR) Southwest. ENR Southwest has also released their list of Top Specialty Contractors by Sector for 2019. In Arizona, the top 10 are: Suntec Concrete Wilson Electric Services Corp Hardrock Concrete Placement Co. Rosendin Electric TDIndustries JB Henderson Construction Co.…

Sales Transactions 1. CBRE has arranged the sale of the 340-unit Class A multifamily community Summerly at Zanjero, 7375 N. Zanjero Blvd, Glendale, on behalf of Fore Property to a private investor for $78.5M. 2. JLL Senior Vice Presidents Tivon Moffitt and Peter Bauman, and Executive Vice President Steve Larsen, represented MRM Tempe LLC, in the $16.2M sale of a 128KSF fully-leased infill industrial building at 8210 S. Hardy Drive, Tempe. The buyer was an out-of-state partnership involved in a 1031 exchange. 3. Mygrant Glass purchased a 130.3KSF warehouse and manufacturing building at 550 W. Southern Avenue, Tempe, for $13.15M.…

By Rebekah Morris for AZ Builder’s Exchange A major General Plan Amendment (GPA) and rezoning cases are concurrently being reviewed by the City of Scottsdale that would bring a large new multifamily development to the southwest corner of Hayden and Camelback Roads in Scottsdale. The development team consists of ColRich, a residential developer based in San Diego, Architect DAVIS, land planner Drake & Associates, with Berry Ridell handling the rezoning and AndersonBaron serving as the Landscape Architect. The project site focuses on the adjacent Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt and builds on on the close proximity to Old Town Scottsdale (600’…