Author: BEX Staff

Groundbreakings 1. Commercial Metals Company broke ground on a 63KSF expansion to create spooled rebar at CMC Steel Arizona, an “environmentally responsible” micro mill in southeast Mesa. 2. Best Western International Inc. is preparing to break ground on a new hotel in the Happy Valley area of Phoenix. The brand will be opening the company’s first new-build, dual-branded Best Western Plus/Executive Residency by Best Western Phoenix in north Phoenix. 3. Greenberg Construction broke ground last month on the Grand Canyon Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting Station. 4. Sigma Contracting, Inc. broke ground recently on the $7.4M, 100KSF headquarters and warehouse for…

By Jane Stewart and Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange NSA Property Holdings has requested a Conditional Use Permit to expand their recently acquired self-storage facility at 16110 North 75th Avenue in Peoria. The existing facility has “seven storage buildings with 58,975 total net rentable self-storage square feet within 504 units on 3.17 acres,” and is operated and managed by Storage Solutions, which also designed and supervised the original construction in 1996. The proposed expansion is “approximately 1.93 acres (and) is comprised of two parcels of vacant land and is considered an infill condition.” The proposed site has auto body…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange Owner New Village Homes is planning Brighton Place – a unique 53-unit multifamily development in Chandler near the SWC of Ray and McQueen roads. On April 4, the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission approved a change for the Planned Area Development from single-family to multifamily, along with a development plan and plat request. According to the staff memo regarding the project, “The proposal is unique in the sense that the units will be one large building with 3, 4, 8, or 9 individual units connected. While the development is multifamily, the design of…

By Jane Stewart for Arizona Builder’s Exchange DMB Circle Road Partners, LLP have requested the rezoning of a 2.28 gross acre parcel at 15450 N. Scottsdale Road from Intermediate Commercial with a Planned Community District (C-2 PCD) to Planned Unit Development. The parcel, “located in the Paradise Valley Village Core and Council District 2 in the City of Phoenix,” is approximately 400 feet north of the NWC of Scottsdale Road and Kierland Boulevard with direct frontage onto Scottsdale Road. La Maison Interiors, a 25KSF furniture store, currently sits at this location, but in its place there soon could be “a…

Sales Transactions 1. The 740-room Arizona Biltmore resort has been sold for $403.4M. The purchaser was Blackstone Real Estate Advisors. 2. Winning bidder D.R. Horton Inc. paid $79M for a 269-acre, state-owned parcel, east of 56th Street and north of Deer Valley Drive. The site was appraised for $54M. Four builders bid for it. 3. The 412-unit Arrowhead Summit apartment complex near Arrowhead Towne Center in Glendale has sold for $60.55M. The apartments were sold by North 79th AZ Partners LLC to ASVRF Cortland Glendale LLC. 4. Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, announced the sale of…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange My first exposure to A/E/C as a business was working for a large format document view and markup collaboration company from 1999-2001. Back then, in the heady days before the tech bubble burst, there was a near mania for just about any process-improving solution. Construction tradeshows filled half the Javits Center in NYC and show sponsors would hold demolition derbies with Caterpillar D-9s. What was neat was that the featured products were no longer earth movers and galvanized piping. They were software solutions. For the first time, construction companies – and, much more…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange Gilbert’s Planning Commission held a study session earlier this month to examine a proposal by Pacific Medical Buildings to develop an 80KSF medical office building on the Mercy Gilbert Medical Center Campus. If the project goes through, Phoenix Children’s Hospital will be the primary tenant with 30KSF of clinic space and 15KSF of administration area. According to town documents, “This project is planned in conjunction with the new approximately 350KSF freestanding Women’s and Children’s tower project that will be licensed by Dignity Health and Phoenix Children’s Hospital.” Zoning is PF/I, Public Facility/Institutional, which…

Awards & Accolades The Arizona Republic has released its list of Top 25 Designers influencing Arizona. 2.  Sara Yehia of Dekker/Perich/Sabatini is now a licensed architect, having passed all her required board exams. 3. Camelot Homes and Robson Communities were named the 2018 Builders of the Year (Grand Award) at the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona’s recent MAME Awards (Major Achievements in Merchandising Excellence) ceremony. In addition to the Grand Award, Camelot received nine other honors at the ceremony. This is the third time Camelot Homes has won the Grand Award. Previously, Camelot Homes has won the Small Volume Builder of…

Awards & Accolades The Tempe Town Lake Western Dam Replacement project won top honors at the American Council of Engineering Companies’ 2018 Engineering Excellence Awards Gala on April 17. Called the “the Academy Awards of the engineering industry,” ACEC’s EEA program honors the year’s most outstanding engineering accomplishments. Completions 2. Ryan Companies US, Inc. completed a 271KSF regional headquarters for McKesson, which is now home to more than 2,000 employees with room to accommodate nearly 2,200. Ryan is now breaking ground on a third building adjacent to the two-story, twin buildings at Chaparral Commerce Center with capacity for approximately another 200 jobs…

By Gabriela Rico for Arizona Daily Star After more than seven years of discussions with and concessions to area stakeholders, local developers are moving forward with a project that will bring new apartments, office space and retail to Tucson’s Fourth Avenue and University Boulevard. The development, dubbed The Trinity, will sit on two sides of Trinity Presbyterian Church, 400 E. University Blvd., on excess land the church is selling. The first phase of the project will be construction of a three-story office building along University Boulevard, between the church and Time Market, said Randi Dorman, with R+R Develop. She and…