Author: BEX Staff

Awards & Accolades 1. GLHN’s John Jolly, Justin Jolly and Joyce Kelly were presented with Awards of Merit by the Illuminating Engineering Society for their lighting design for the University of Arizona’s Environment and Natural Resources 2. 2. Gallagher & Kennedy announced Jennifer Cranston has been named President-Elect of the Board of Directors of AZCREW, one of the founding chapters of the Commercial Real Estate Women Network. 3. Danny Lee has been named the Top Producer of 2017 at Desert Commercial Advisors. Company News 4. Scottsdale-based Foresight Intelligence Inc. is expanding with its software solution for construction companies that run heavy machinery. At 50 employees currently,…

Source Associated Builders and Contractors The nonresidential construction sector added 11,800 net new jobs in December, representing nearly 10 percent of the nation’s jobs created during the month, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The nation’s overall construction sector added 30,000 net new jobs in December, a 0.4 percent month-over-month increase. Construction easily embodies the most positive news emerging from the national unemployment report. Although both nonresidential building construction (-1,300 net jobs) and heavy and civil engineering (-700 net jobs) were down for the month, job gains were driven…

By Mike Sunnucks for Phoenix Business Journal The Arizona Legislature is again looking at property tax breaks cities give to developers and businesses. That includes changing the rules that govern them and restricting them. Conservatives at the Legislature have been scrutinizing and targeting tax breaks called Government Property Lease Excise Taxes. Those involve cities leasing land they own to developers and businesses. That allows them to avoid paying traditional property taxes. They instead pay a lower excise tax. That creates islands of property tax breaks on properties while other privately held land pays traditional property tax rates. State lawmakers have…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange At least one developer is taking advantage of the opportunity promised by the Arizona Department of Transportation when it launched plans for the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway. Among the many benefits ADOT promised was enhanced freight and shipping access in the near West Valley. Owner Red River 647 Holdings, LLC (Central Freight Line, Inc.) has a submittal before the City of Phoenix to create a nearly 106KSF logistics facility at 59th Avenue and Lower Buckeye next to the freeway, which is currently under construction for ADOT in a public-private partnership with Connect…

Sales Transactions 1. Walker & Dunlop Inc. forged an $86M refinancing deal for Class A properties in Phoenix, Tempe and Scottsdale. The Arizona portfolio with the new financing totals 709KSF. 2. GLL Real Estate Partners has completed the purchase of Lincoln Towne Center, a 230KSF office property at 4150-4250 N. Drinkwater Boulevard in Scottsdale’s Old Town district for $69.1M. The seller was Transwestern Investment Group and the property was marketed by Eastdil. 3. Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, announced the sale of Pinnacle Terrace, a 300-unit multifamily asset in Chandler, for $56M. Steve Gebing and Cliff David represented the…

By AZBEX Staff for Arizona Builder’s Exchange Phoenix’s office market is in its fourth year of consecutive annual absorption gains, and the area promised to see an added boost in high profile Class A and “Trophy” assets, as evidenced by the recent $928M sale of the 2MSF, five building Marina Heights – State Farm campus in Tempe, according to the Q4 2017 JLL Phoenix Office Market Insight report. “The State Farm campus and downtown Tempe area are a nice welcome to Phoenix as you fly into Sky Harbor International Airport,” said JLL Senior Managing Director Dennis Desmond. “The fact that…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange Even though the South Central Light Rail Extension is still in the design phase and won’t be in operation until 2023, at least one developer is planning ahead and creating an 80-unit, three-story senior living complex that will lie directly between two planned stops along the route. In a Planned Unit Development submitted to the City of Phoenix in December, Bethel Development, Inc. laid out its vision for a long-vacant 2.56 gross acre site at the SEC of South Central and East Sunland avenues. “The goals are to develop the property with an…

Groundbreaking 1. Willmeng Construction has commenced construction on the expansion of BASIS Flagstaff. The 34.9KSF school will get an additional 30.9KSF. BASIS Schools is the developer, Chermack Consulting Group is the development manager, and Carhuff & Cueva Architects designed the expansions. 2. Groundbreaking is planned this month for Surprise’s first In-n-Out restaurant. Progress Reports 3. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport will close its north runway Jan. 8 for repairs. The repairs are slated to run until Feb. 21 with construction crews replacing pavement on the runway. 4. Christopher Todd Communities announced the opening of the leasing office at the company’s first single-family luxury…

Awards & Accolades 1. Robin Duncan, senior director of business development, was awarded “Employee of the Year” for 2017 by the Arizona Small Business Association. Boards & Commissions 2. Principal Andrew Cheney of Lee & Associates Arizona was recently selected as NAIOP Arizona’s 2018 chairman of the board. He has been a member of NAIOP Arizona since 2003 and served on the board since 2012. Company News 3. Velocity Retail Group is expanding by opening an office at 6061 E. Grant Road in Tucson. The office will be led by Brian Harpel, senior VP and associate broker for the new office. This…