Author: BEX Staff

By Tasha Anderson for Arizona Builder’s Exchange The level of optimism for nonresidential construction activity for 2018 is at the highest it has been in more than twenty years, according to the Wells Fargo 2018 Construction Industry Forecast report. The report is the result of an annual survey conducted amongst distributers and contractors across the United States, getting their outlook on future nonresidential construction activity. The numerical measurement for the industry’s expectation for construction activity, called the “Optimism Quotient” is at 133 for 2018, a 10-point increase over 2017. According to the report, “An OQ score of 100 or more…

Sales Transactions 1. A 92.6KSF Class A office building in Scottsdale that serves as a PayPal operations center has sold for $30.5M. Rob Edwards and Tom Ethington with Pinnacle Real Estate Advisors brokered the deal. The buyer was Buchtel Realty Investors. The seller is listed as RM Mountain View LLLP. 2. Hunt Mortgage Group has provided a first mortgage bridge loan for $30.5M to finance the acquisition and renovation of 240-unit, garden-style Mountain Park Apartments in Phoenix. The loan sponsor is KB Development. 3. MIG Real Estate has acquired Trails at Harris, a 216-unit apartment community in Mesa, Ariz. Western Wealth…

By AZBEX Staff for Arizona Builder’s Exchange Cooperation breeds success, and in this case, accolades as well. Sundt/Rummel, A Joint Venture, has earned The Associated General Contractors of America’s “2018 AGC Marvin M. Black Excellence in Partnering Award” for its work on the White Tanks Flood Retarding Structure No. 4 rehabilitation project for the Arizona Department of Water Resources. The project, in Buckeye, “consisted of preconstruction and construction phase services to complete the rehabilitation of the existing FRS,” according to the award submission. ADWR had named White Tanks as having the highest risk in Arizona for lack of performance during peak…

By Jane Stewart for Arizona Builder’s Exchange Gilbert may soon be home to another car dealership. Autobahn Properties, LLC, through Nationwide Reality Investors, LTD, recently sought approval from the Planning Commission/Design Review Board on the site plan for a new car dealership at the SEC of Gilbert and Pecos Roads. The site, located within the 250-acre mixed-use development, Rivulon, is adjacent to another vacant site where the Volvo Cars Gilbert dealership has been planned and approved, but not yet constructed. On 4.59 acres, “The site is currently zoned Regional Commercial with a Planned Area Development overlay.” The showroom, which is…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange HonorHealth Wants Hospital-Anchored Urban Project at I-17 & Dove Valley Healthcare giant HonorHealth is seeking approval for a Planned Unit Development from the City of Phoenix to create Sonoran Crossing, an 87-acre, hospital-anchored, mixed-use wellness campus that will ultimately include office, retail and residential components as well. Located at the NEC of Interstate 17 and Dove Valley Road, “The HonorHealth Hospital will be the defining centerpiece of Sonoran Crossing and will set the tone for a health and wellness-focused community. To suit the needs of an ever-growing multi-generational demographic, other uses and site…

Awards & Accolades 1. Kayenta Health Center, operated by Indian Health Service, has been awarded LEED Gold status from the U.S. Green Building Council. Groundbreakings 2. Data center firm Aligned Energy has broken ground on a 200KSF expansion at its 51-acre, 550KSF, 120MW campus in Phoenix. Progress Reports 3. The second phase has started on the $50M renovation project at the Renaissance Square office towers in downtown Phoenix. Completions 4. Optima Kierland’s high-rise condominium tower in North Scottsdale has opened. More than 80 percent of its residences at 7120 East Kierland Boulevard have sold. 5. 1784 Capital Holdings, LLC, has…

By Peter Madrid for MadridMedia  A reflection of a world we don’t know. A space mission to a metal asteroid. Autonomous vehicles. A new spin on Arizona’s Five Cs. A new “aha” moment. Artful neighborhoods.   ULI Arizona’s 13th annual Trends Day, held at the J.W. Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa and titled “Inform Inspire Involve,” highlighted a theme that some of the best ideas to build us up are not just on earth, but are also in the way we think.   Diane Swonk, Chief Economist with Grant Thornton LLP, opened by saying the world seems a little different than it did a year and half ago.   “It’s a reflection of a world we don’t know,” she said.…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange  The City of Maricopa is looking for a developer “to transform the Copper Sky Commercial Site into a high quality mixed-use destination.”   It issued “RFP18-ED01242018 Copper Sky Commercial Site Development” outlining its desires for the project. Proposals are due March 22.  The property to be developed is approximately 18 acres on two parcels on SR 347 and Martin Luther King Boulevard. More than 1,100 feet fronts the highway. The city expects the zoning to be Mixed-Use – General with a Planned Area Development overlay. It intends to either sell or ground lease the site. According the project background information, all utilities…

By Jane Stewart for Arizona Builder’s Exchange  An application for a Special Use Permit has been filed to bring another solar project to Yuma County.   Rich Hamilton, agent for Invenergy Solar Development, LLC, filed the application for the Yuma Solar Energy Project that would sit on approximately 680 gross acres of land Invenergy is leasing from the Arizona State Land Department.   The acreage sits on two separate parcels zoned Rural Area-10-acre minimum (RA-10) “located in unincorporated Yuma County, approximately 2.5 miles south of Interstate 8…just east of the City of Yuma,” and south of County 13th Street between the alignments of Fortuna Road and Foothills Boulevard.  The currently undeveloped site is “adjacent to…

Sales Transactions  1. Cushman & Wakefield completed the sale of the Carlyle at South Mountain Townhomes & Apartments, located at 5151 E. Guadalupe Road and 5102 E. Piedmont Road in Phoenix. Two entities formed by Western Wealth Capital of North Vancouver, British Columbia purchased the property from entities formed by FPA Multifamily for $90M. Steven Nicoluzakis and David Fogler of Cushman & Wakefield brokered the transaction. 2. Cushman & Wakefield completed the sale of Avondale Commerce Center I & II, located at 1050 & 1250 N. Fairway Drive in Avondale, for $36.25M. Avondale Commerce Center LLC (a company formed by Presson Corp.) purchased the property from 1050-1250 N El Mirage Road-Avondale LLC (a company formed by iStar Inc.). Paul Boyle,…