Author: BEX Staff

Awards & Accolades 1. Phoenix Business Journal has published its list of Top Commercial Building Contractors. With $486.84M in 2017 billings for Ariz. buildings, Sundt Construction, Inc. took the top honor, up from number 8 last year. The full list is available here. 2. STORE Capital VP – Controller Claire Janssen received the 2018 Arizona Controller of the Year Award presented by Financial Executives International’s local chapter. Boards & Commissions 3. The Arizona Builders Alliance has officially announced the hiring of Tom Dunn, VP of Southern Arizona, to replace Mark Minter, who is retiring after serving the statewide association for 41…

Progress Reports 1. The owners of Tucson’s Funtasticks Family Fun Park are adding new water features. Pro Parks Management is building a play area with a splash pad and several bucket drops over slides and climbing bars at the park, 221 E. Wetmore Road. Grail Construction is doing the work. 2. Florence Copper’s solvent extraction and electrowinning plant is under construction off Hunt Highway. The company hopes to produce its first sheet of copper around Christmas. Completions 3. Salt River Project and NextEra Energy Resources LLC announced the opening of the 258,000-panel Pinal Central Solar Energy Center in Casa Grande. It is the…

By Tasha Anderson for Arizona Builder’s Exchange If all goes according to plan, a run-down office plaza at 40th Street and McDowell will become the areas latest adaptive re-use renovation. Applicant, Earl, Curley & Lagarde, P.C., on behalf of developer, Real Estate and More LLC, is requesting a rezoning of an approximately +/- 1.91-acre site at the northwest corner of McDowell Road and 41st Place, from the current C-2 zoning district to Planned Unit Development, to allow for an adaptive re-use conversion of an existing five-story office development into 40 East, a mixed-use urban development. According to the PUD narrative…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange We don’t have people to do the jobs. We won’t have them for quite a while, and it’s our fault. 160 people filled the ballroom at the Phoenix Country Club on May 18 to hear the somber message, but no one argued against it. A panel, moderated by Jordan Rose, Rose Law Group founder and president and consisting of Dan Haag, Sundt Construction senior VP and chief administration officer; Jackie Elliott, Central Arizona College president and CEO, and Mike Greenawalt, Rosendin Electric, senior VP of operations, gave the room an overview of the…

Sales Transactions 1. Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, announces the sale of Alta Steelyard Lofts, a core Class “A” mid-rise, 301-unit multifamily property located Chandler. The property sold for $69.25M. 2. Cushman & Wakefield completed the sale of SanTan Village Marketplace, a premier destination center located in Gilbert. Michael Hackett and Ryan Schubert of Cushman & Wakefield Phoenix represented the seller. An entity formed by CP Retail Inc. of Santa Monica purchased the property for $51.4M. 3. Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, announced the sale of Valley View Apartments, a 304-unit multifamily asset in the Catalina…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent again in April, according to the latest report published by the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity. The national rate declined from 4.1 percent to 3.9. Twelve months ago, the state had a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.0 percent, and the national was at 4.4. The state had a net gain of 5,300 non-farm jobs over the month. The private sector gained 3,300. Nine of the 11 sectors tracked showed gains. Trade, Transportation & Utilities was the biggest loser, dropping 3,100. Construction in Arizona…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange Attendees of the American Public Works Association Arizona Chapter luncheon on Weds., May 16, got a fast-paced and furiously detailed state of the public construction market overview and its impending changes from AZBEX Founder and Publisher Rebekah Morris. After reminding everyone that, while Capital Improvement Project plans are public documents, as internal planning guides they are not written for easy public consumption or understanding, she gave a quick overview of AZBEX’s research work in the area over the past seven years and of the state’s economy as it exists today. Even though the…

Awards & Accolades 1. Copperstate Development captured the top honor in the 5th Annual REIAC/Rockefeller Group Challenge, garnering $1,000 each for team members Robby Leonard, Cody Wolfe, Josh Rodriguez and Mohammed Almehaidib. Competing teams were comprised of graduating students from Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business, Masters of Real Estate Development. This year’s project was the 148-acre Arizona State University Thunderbird School of Global Management campus in Glendale. 2. azcentral.com and Republic Media (The Arizona Republic and azcental.com) have announced DP Electric has earned a spot on the list of 2018 Top Companies to Work for in Arizona. Company…

Groundbreakings 1. WingSpan Aviation Center will soon be breaking ground and starting construction on an 80KSF airplane hangar and office space development at the Chandler Municipal Airport. 2. Hines will soon break ground on Val Vista Self Storage, the first Class A self-storage facility in Gilbert, and plans to build three to five more a year in well-populated growing suburban areas with high incomes. Hines will develop the facilities and partner with professional self-storage operators to manage the portfolio. 3. Construction began this week on I.D.E.A. Tempe, a phased 1MSF project covering 18 acres along Rio Salado Parkway. It will…

By Gabriela Rico for Arizona Daily Star Residents eagerly awaiting the arrival of a planned Fry’s store near the rapidly growing Gladden Farms area in Marana will have to wait for another grocer. Kroger, Fry’s parent company, recently announced plans to scrap the planned store and will sell the 11-acre site on Tangerine and Lon Adams roads. Last year, Kroger announced plans to cut back on new stores by 35 percent and focus on remodels and digital sales. Competitors Kept Out In the last 16 months there have been 421 new home permits issued in and around Gladden Farms. Fry’s…