Author: BEX Staff

Sales Transactions 1. A Miami limited-liability company called Uptown Plaza Associates has sold Uptown Plaza shopping center located at the NEC of Camelback Rd and Central Ave for $51.6M. Levine Investments paid cash for the center. 2. Media giant Gannett Co., parent of The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, has sold its 10-story office building and parking garage at 200 E. Van Buren St., Phoenix, for $37.65M. ViaWest Group purchased the building through an LLC called VWP EVB 200 Office. 3. Tides Equities LLC recently purchased the 316-unit Crossroads apartment complex at 2222 W. Beardsley Rd for $33.5M. The seller was not…

By Rebekah Morris for Arizona Builder’s Exchange, LLC By many business measures, 2018 was a great year. The Arizona construction market certainly saw shimmering doodads and shiny whatchamacallits at every turn. While we’ll go into much greater depth — with targeted data and detailed analysis — at our Construction Activity Forecast event next Thursday, January 10th, here are some of the highlights and our thoughts on the coming year. 2018 Looks Good on you! Last year, AZBEX research staff expected total market activity to rise from 2017’s estimated $10.1B annual statewide level to nearly $13B, a spike of nearly 30…

By Tasha Anderson for Arizona Builder’s Exchange DPA Architects has submitted a proposal to the City of Scottsdale on behalf of Fassco Investments for the construction of a new mixed-use “multiple dwelling development” at the SWC of 1st Street and Goldwater Boulevard. The project, Winery Suites of Scottsdale, will be an expansion of the current Winery Suites property at 6951 / 6961 East 1st Street in Scottsdale and will be a 4-story, 52KSF mixed-use development consisting of a multifamily development, Winery Market and underground parking garage. The property is bordered by a Cornish Pasty Restaurant to the north across 1st…

Giving Back 1. Local landscaping firms Terrasole and Prescott Landscaping Professionals both recently volunteered their employees’ time to help clear out some of the undergrowth that has been obscuring visibility along the Greenways Trail between Goodwin Street and Granite Creek Park. 2. Construction students at Western Maricopa Education Center (West-MEC) partnered with local physician Dr. Jeannine Hinds to build a mobile clinic that provides free medical services to homeless families and at-risk youth. Awards & Accolades 3. Trammell Crow Company has recently been named the 2018 Top Development Firm by Commercial Property Executive Magazine with more than 1.1MSF of commercial real estate…

Progress Reports 1. The rifle and pistol range at Pima County’s Tucson Mountain Park is set to re-open in mid-February, following demolition and reconstruction that was necessary due to storm damage. Demolition was completed in November. Reconstruction work includes preserving the structure’s historic stone columns and framing and installing a new roof. 2. The Coconino Medical Examiner’s Office is in the middle of a +/- $3.6M renovation. In May, the department will be moved to a newly renovated building that is 22 years younger and provides more than twice the amount of usable space, allowing ample room for work, storage and…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange Here at AZBEX, we pride ourselves on delivering our readers more detail and more accuracy than other outlets covering the Arizona A/E/C community. That might mean others get to a story first, but if we dedicate resources to an original, it’s pretty much guaranteed we’re going to tell you more about the project, trend or event than anyone else. Of course, once in a while, that dedication to originality and industry tracking means we get to tell you first. In the days of 24-hour news cycles and instant information, a “scoop” isn’t the…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange At the end of the year All across Arizona Moms and Dads planned excursions To L.A. and Pamona Each year we call out All the mean-hearted Grinches Whose year-end deadlines Throw the staffs in the trenches Submitters want to chill out Hug the kids, go see Mom But Humbug-y due dates Mean their plans all get bombed Yavapai needs Services For Green Watershed Planning Respondents are sinking It’s lifeboats they’re manning Historic Old Kingman Wants zoning advice Four days before New Year’s? That’s not very nice NAU’s…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange I was wrapping up my training as a reporter around the time the reporting trade was experiencing its second reported death in 30 years. Unbeknownst to any of us, a third, much more expansive extinction event was right around the corner. Despite the gloomy prognostications, neither technology nor fashion could quite kill off the fact there will always be a market for serious information and a place for serious people to deliver it. Back then, as the industry was transitioning from physical paste-up to electronic layout and other technological advances, we still used…

Sales Transactions 1. Transcanada Corp. has inked a deal to sell the 575-megawatt Coolidge Generating Station to subsidiary of Southwest Generation Operating Co. LLC for $465M. 2. Divco West paid $142M for a majority interest in the 1,222-unit Vaseo Apartment Homes complex, at the SWC of 7th Street and Greenway Parkway in Phoenix. Klein Financial Corp. was the property’s minority owner when the majority owner sold its interests to Divco. 3. TruAmerica Multifamily, in a joint venture with an institutional capital partner, has acquired a two-property, 472-unit apartment portfolio near I-10 and Baseline Rd in Tempe for $67.3M. The portfolio is comprised of…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange A long-running back-and-forth battle between the letter and intent of workplace safety regulations recently added another voice to the choir in a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. The court ruled the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has the power and authority to cite general contractors for hazardous workplace violations even if the conditions on a job site only affect subcontractor workers and not the GC’s own workforce. This is the latest of many rulings that undercut the circuit’s 1981 decision in Melerine v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc., which…