Author: BEX Staff

By Richard H. Dyer for Apache Junction Independent Voters in a November 5th election will consider authorizing Apache Junction Unified School District to issue and sell $60M in school-improvement bonds and exceed its budget by the lesser of $2M or 10 percent of its revenue control limit. The district’s first override passed in 1999 and was renewed in 2003. Further votes failed in May 2007 and November 2007, 2009, 2010, 2014 and 2015. At the last election, voters denied the proposed increase of up to 15 percent to the district’s maintenance and operations budget. The override would have raised approximately…

Groundbreakings 1. ViaWest Group has kicked off major renovations at 200 EVB, an office building purchased late last year located at 200 E. Van Buren, Phoenix. The building’s Third Street parking garage is also undergoing an LED retrofit and the addition of an improved parking system. 2. The University of Arizona (UA) broke ground on a new incubator focused on bioscience startups on September 4th. The incubator, UA Center for Innovation at Oro Valley, located at the UA Tech Park at Rita Road, will provide space and business incubation programs for nascent life science businesses to develop their technology and…

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX The Avondale City Council approved an amendment to an existing development deal at its August 26th meeting for the 163-acre Parkside Village site at the SWC of Indian School Road and 99th Avenue. According to the city staff report, “The proposed amendment will redefine infrastructure improvements… modify the timing for completion of those infrastructure improvements and remove time sensitive elements of the existing agreement that are no longer available.” The project, called Parkside Village is proposed as a master-planned community comprised of 415 single-family residential homes on 4,500-6,500 square-foot lots and 247 single-family “villas” to…

By Wayne Schutsky for Scottsdale Progress The days are numbered for the dilapidated, yet memorable pueblo-style buildings that make up the old Papago Plaza as a local developer prepares to demolish the structures to make way for a new mixed-use development. Pivot Development President Lee Mashburn, who has owned the property since 2015, said demolition should begin at some point in September with construction on the first phase slated to start in January 2020. The first phase of Papago Marketplace, which will go before the development review board on September 5, will include three commercial buildings and a four-story parking…

By Gary Nelson for East Valley Tribune Faced with the prospect of further explosive growth in the Southeast Valley, Mesa and Queen Creek are hustling to build two major roadways that will connect with a future extension the State Route 24 freeway. The cities have agreed to design and build Meridian and Signal Butte roads northward from where they now stop in Queen Creek to the freeway, creating two new major north-south routes in the area. Building the two roads is a cooperative effort not only with Mesa but also with Pinal County and private developers, said Troy White, director…

By Corina Vanek for Phoenix Business Journal The Scottsdale Planning Commission agreed to recommend the City Council approve a proposed mixed-use development that spans several sites along the Old Town Scottsdale canal at its meeting Thursday afternoon. Carter Unger, president of Scottsdale-based Spring Creek Development, took on his father’s legacy project after his father, Fred Unger, passed away from cancer in 2018. The project, which will likely cost over $700M, is called SouthBridge 2.0 and would include 412KSF of commercial space, including 170KSF of office, 570 residential units and 200 hotel rooms, according to documents submitted to the city. The…

Boards & Commissions 1. The Sundt Foundation has selected two new officers and added two new members to its board of directors. Stefanie Teller replaces Randy Rusing as President, and Joe Riccillo will assume Teller’s role of Vice President. Rick Buchanan and Jesse De Haro have been added as members to the Foundation’s board. 2. Wood Patel & Associates has announced its new shareholders: Nicholas Brown, PE, Municipal Team; Frank Koo, PE, Residential Team; Gabe Rios, RLS, Survey Team; Dan Matthews, PE, Residential Team; Ethan Boyle, PE, Residential Team. Company News 3. With more than 20 years of combined experience…

Sales Transactions 1. Black Salmon shook hands with partners ScanlanKemper Bard Cos. and Varde Partners Inc. for ownership rights to the U.S. Bank Center, a 375.9KSF, Class A office building at 101 N. First Ave, Phoenix. The Miami investor will invest more than $107M for the building, based on purchase price, tenant improvements and planned enhancements. 2. JB Partners purchased Remington Ranch, a 304-unit multifamily asset in the Phoenix metro area, for $58.5M. Steve Gebing and Cliff David with Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, represented the seller, BRIO Investment Group, and procured the buyer. 3. Tides…

By Sammy Williams for AZBEX Alliance Residential is in escrow to acquire 12 acres at the NWC of Dobson Road and Isabella Avenue in Mesa with plans to develop a high-quality residential community known as Broadstone Dobson Ranch. The site is currently occupied by the Dobson Ranch Inn hotel and Fiesta Bar & Grill. According to the developer’s rezoning application with the City of Mesa, “the hotel no longer attracts visitors due to several reasons including its location and the development of better located, newer lodging accommodations in the area. As a result of the continued low occupancy, the hotel and property have fallen into a…

By Lorraine Longhi for The Arizona Republic On Tuesday, Scottsdale narrowly approved Marquee, a 150-foot-tall office building planned for downtown, amid complaints that the project did not fit the aesthetics of Old Town or include enough parking. The approval highlights long-running clashes over development downtown. Marquee was approved in 2016 as a 90-foot-tall building to go up next to the Galleria Corporate Center in Old Town, but the city’s updated development plan has allowed developers to ask for greater height. The 271KSF mixed-use office building falls in line with changes made last year to the development plan that governs new…