Author: BEX Staff

Groundbreakings 1. H5 Data Centers has announced a 25KSF expansion to their existing Chandler data center campus. This marks the second phase of the 180KSF facility, and will be complete later this year. 2. Pima County JTED held a groundbreaking ceremony for their new Bridges Innovation Learning Center, a 50KSF building that will train healthcare professionals. 3. The $300M X Phoenix, a high-rise residential project in downtown Phoenix has broken ground. UEB is the general contractor and Shepley Bulfinch and Fitzgerald Associates Architects are handling the design. 4. My Place Hotel has broken ground on the first hotel of its…

By Rebekah Morris for AZBEX National Metrics Leave Much to be Discussed on this Topic This week alone, two national metrics were released regarding the level of construction activity and costs nationwide: Marcum Commercial Construction Index rises 2.1 percent Year Over Year, and the 2019 Q1 Rider Levett Bucknall Construction Cost Report (RLB) notes a national Year Over Year cost increase at 5.73 percent. The report goes on to peg the Phoenix market as experiencing a 6.7 percent annual increase to construction costs. According to Marcum’s Q1 2019 Commercial Construction Index, Anirban Basu, the report’s author and Marcum’s chief construction…

By Connor Dziawura for Peoria Times Paramount, Sony and NBCUniversal are just a few of the entertainment companies that could be coming to the West Valley, if all goes according to plan for a local group. Ruben Arizpe, CEO and founder of East Scottsdale Consulting Inc. recently told Peoria Times he and his business partners are looking to develop a 130-acre film and TV studio campus called Diamond Sky Studio Complex at Loop 303 and Lone Mountain Road, near Peoria’s Vistancia community. In addition to 24 stages, Arizpe said the plans incorporate a “city walk,” which would serve as a…

Giving Back 1. Sundt Construction, in the 10th annual Thirst Aid, has teamed up with St. Joseph the Worker to donate water for persons experiencing homelessness. On May 17th Sundt employee-owners loaded pallets of water onto a semi-truck, donated by Sunstate Equipment, at the company’s headquarters in Tempe then delivered over half a million water bottles to SJW, breaking their previous record of 296,252 water bottles. Awards & Accolades 2. Ranking Arizona has released its annual list of the Top 10 Architecture Firms. The top spot for the three categories are: 11 Architects or More: DAVIS 10 Architects or Fewer:…

Sales Transactions 1. Sansome Pacific joint venture recently completed the sale-leaseback transaction for 11 Cabela’s locations for $324M, in what is believed to be the largest transaction brokered by a digital platform, B+E, to date. Founders of B+E, Camille Renshaw and Scott Scurich, have a background in both traditional real estate brokerage and tech before founding B+E in 2017. 2. Strategic Office Partners, a wholly owned subsidiary of TPG Real Estate Partners, purchased the 117KSF single-tenant fully leased One Chandler Corporate Center from Van Trust Real Estate LLC. CBRE brokers Barry Gabel, Chris Marchildon and Will Mast represented the seller.…

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX Arizona State University recently issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a company to enter into a long-term ground lease for the new Multi-Purpose Arena planned on 10 acres of the Novus Innovation Corridor in Tempe. The 5,000 seat multi-purpose arena will be located directly northeast of and will attach to the Wells Fargo Arena, where a major renovation project is also planned. It will be an integrated indoor sports complex, housing the Sun Devil Ice Hockey team, gymnastics and other sports. At build-out, the approximately 175KSF facility will also contain a total of seven…

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX Chandler Unified School District is looking to build a new elementary school at Ocotillo Road and 14th Street in Gilbert, due to rising enrollment rates in the southeast region of the district. The project, called Elementary School #31, is planned as the development of a 91KSF building on 13 acres and will include a central plant with chiller system and site development, as well as off-site improvements. The off-site improvements will include half-street improvements to Ocotillo Road and 148th Street. In order to support continued growth in that region of the district, Chandler Unified School…

Awards & Accolades 1. LSW Engineers announced its latest award: The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) – Central Arizona Chapter selected Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Classroom and Lab Building in Prescott, AZ as the “Best Institutional HVAC Design” during the chapter’s Fifth Annual Honors & Awards Dinner on May 16. Groundbreakings 2. Laser Components has broken ground on a new facility in Chandler that will serve as a central development and production site for all the company’s detector technologies. Construction of the 26KSF facility is expected to be completed by spring 2020. 3. Construction has…

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX The City of Phoenix will hear a rezoning request for the development of a new gated condominium development, at the SWC of 24th Avenue and Avalon Drive, at its June 5 City Council meeting. Applicant, Pew & Lake, PLC, on behalf of Ridgeway Investments, LLC of Provo, Utah submitted the request to rezone the entire 2.05-acre site at 3030 N. 24th Avenue from Single-Family Residence District to Multifamily Residence District. According to the applicant’s submittal, the site is currently vacant and is bordered by multifamily developments to the north and west, a parking lot and…

By Mara Knaub for Yuma Sun After receiving $100K in grant funding for a proposed “multiversity” campus, the inaugural Board of Directors met April 26 to begin discussing the project. The Yuma Multiversity Campus will serve as an education hub for existing institutions of higher education and the degrees they offer. The board discussed bringing community, academic and industry partners together for complete planning and development that will be key to turn the multiverse concept into a reality. Downtown University Plan In 2017, the council adopted a plan for revitalizing the Old Town South Subarea that includes an initial combined…