Author: BEX Staff

Sales Transactions 1. The 40-story Chase Tower in downtown Phoenix recently was purchased by 201 North Central Avenue Property LLC, a joint venture between Wentworth Property Co. and Taconic Capital Advisors LP. An affiliate of that entity took title to the Chase building with a $78.8M bid at an April 13 trustee sale. The bid included a 1,900-space parking garage across the street from the tower. 2. HFF has announced a $63.5M refinancing for The Scottsdale Plaza Resort, a 404-room, full-service, independently owned and operated resort hotel in Scottsdale. HFF worked on behalf of the borrower, Scottsdale Plaza Resort, LLC, to place…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange The “Decade of the Renter,” as the current state of housing has been called by ABI Multifamily Research Director Thomas Brophy, continues unabated. In the company’s Q1 2018 market analysis for the Phoenix MSA, he writes, “We are living through a tectonic demographic shift pushing us further and further into a more renter-centric society, which started in earnest in 2011/12…. I’ll make no assertions whether this shift is good or bad, but make no mistake that it is happening.” Brophy cites national estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau that rental households have increased…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange The Town of Gilbert is considering a proposal to develop The Crossing at Cooley Station, a 408-unit gated multifamily luxury development on nearly 25 acres south of the NEC of Wade Drive and Williams Field Road. Whitneybell Perry Architects, on behalf of owner Frankel Family Trust, requested approvals for the development plans and details. The site – Cooley Station Parcel 3 – is zoned Multifamily Medium with a Planned Area Development Overlay. According to the Planning Commission staff report, “In the early 2000s, Cooley Station was envisioned and approved as a neo-traditional village…

Awards & Accolades 1. Grafton Milne of Menlo Group Commercial Real Estate has achieved the SIOR office designation awarded by the Society of Industrial and Office REALTORS®. 2. Titan Solar Power of Gilbert has been identified by Phoenix Business Journal as the Phoenix area’s Largest Solar Installer, having installed 48,480 Kilowatts in 2017. 3. With 80 employees, FITCH has been named the Phoenix area’s Largest Interior Design Firm by Phoenix Business Journal. 4. The City of Maricopa received the Government Finance Officers Association Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for fiscal year 2017/18. The award reflects the commitment of City Council and…

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…