Author: BEX Staff

Groundbreakings 1. The Westin Tempe has officially broken ground in Downtown Tempe on Seventh Street between Mill and Myrtle avenues. Developed by CAI Investments, the 18-story Westin Tempe will be a full-service business hotel. 2. Ottawa University-Arizona officially broke ground on its new athletics center last week. The O’Dell Center for Athletics was made possible from a $6M donation from alumni Jim and Jeanne O’Dell, the single largest donation in the school’s 152 years. 3. The Ellsworth Road project, which broke ground last week, will improve the flow of traffic and safety on Queen Creek’s most traveled roadway. The project coordinates the town’s…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange (EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was intended to run last Friday in our last issue of the volume year. Due to a couple technical issues, that didn’t happen. So, since the AZBEX crew is nothing if not adaptable, we’ve updated it a bit and are pleased to offer our retrospective to kick off the New Volume Year. We hope you enjoy it.) I know. I know. You’re only now getting past the Year in Review saturation everyone threw at you a few weeks ago. You may be wondering, “Did no one buy those AZBEX folk…

Jane Stewart for Arizona Builder’s Exchange Developer Park7 Group, through Huellmantel & Affiliates, has requested a Zoning Map Amendment from the City of Tempe in the hopes of developing two parcels along Apache Boulevard. The project, known as Park Place, is a proposed mixed-use development comprised of two, five-story buildings that offer 285 dwelling units, along with 9KSF of commercial space. Huellmantel & Affiliates represents the land owners 1135 Apache LLC; Kassel Corporation; Next Gen Partners XII LLC, and Next Gen Investments XII LLC. The parcels, which total 4.45 net acres, are currently comprised of “vacant land, an aging mobile…

Jane Stewart for Arizona Builder’s Exchange Sun Health Senior Living is looking to expand its retirement community, The Colonnade, located at the NWC of Grand Avenue and Reems Road. Working through land attorney, Bergin, Frakes, Smalley & Oberholtzer, PLLC, Sun Health is seeking a Planned Area Development Zoning Amendment to add assisted living apartments and a memory care facility to its campus in Sun City Grande. Over the past 13 years, The Colonnade has grown considerably through a range of different zoning districts on its five-parcel site. “The applicant is requesting to rezone these parcels from Rural Residential (RR/R1-43), Multifamily…

Sales Transactions 1. Western Wealth Capital recently acquired Villatree, a 150-unit multifamily community in Tempe for $17.35M, increasing the company’s total number of acquired rental units to more than 7,000 and ranking it as the second-largest multifamily owner in the Phoenix area by number of units. To date, the purchase price value of all WWC acquisitions is $536.4M. 2. Walker & Dunlop, Inc. announced that it structured a $49.6M loan for Arrowhead Summit, a 412-unit, Class B property in Glendale. The financing was arranged for repeat-borrower, Cortland Partners and the transaction marks their first investment in the Phoenix metropolitan area. 3. Mark Taylor acquired 41 acres…

By Tasha Anderson for Arizona Builder’s Exchange The Arizona chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers held their February Luncheon on Wednesday at the because-Space for Life event center to discuss the Grand Canyon Trans-Canyon Waterline and the plan to replace it rather than fix the existing pipeline. Guest speakers Kris Provenzano, Grand Canyon Program Manager for Water and Wastewater Infrastructure with the Unites States National Park Service, and Rich Thornton, Project Manager for HDR Engineering, updated the crowd on what’s currently going on with the pipeline project. The current pipeline is 12.5 miles that moves the water by…

By Wayne Schutsky for East Valley Tribune The Eastmark master-planned community will mark a new phase in its development this spring when builders break ground on The Premier, the community’s first apartment complex. Currently, Eastmark is best known for its inventory of high-end homes from a dozen custom- and production-home builders in the $300K-and-above range. However, the community introduced patio homes and custom homes priced in the low-$200K range over the past year. Those new offerings – along with the new apartment product – are part of a long-term effort to provide a diversity of housing in the area. Brookfield…

By Mike Sunnucks for Phoenix Business Journal For Morgan Olsen it circles back to the well-worn adage of ‘teach a man to fish.’ But the problem for Olsen – CFO at Arizona State University – is that some fiscal conservatives at the Arizona Legislature don’t want the school to fish for real estate deals and its own revenue streams even after the same state assembly cut higher education budgets during and after the last recession. Olsen said ASU lost $200M in state funding over four years between 2008 and 2012. From 2009 to 2012, the state cut $400M in funding to the three state…

Groundbreakings 1. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Jan. 21 for the first of the five-phase expansion of the Ponderosa Bible Church. The first phase of the project, expected to be complete by September, is 5,861SF and includes a new entrance, larger foyer, expansion and remodeling of the church’s nursery and pre-K area, addition of a kitchen and pantry, and utility and storage rooms. 2. Construction has begun on the $12M Kofa High School Renovations project in Yuma. Renovations include the construction of two new buildings and remodel of four existing facilities along with the addition of tennis courts. Construction is scheduled to…

By Jane Stewart for Arizona Builder’s Exchange William Lyon Homes has requested a minor amendment to the Town of Gilbert’s General Plan for the Lyon’s Gate Apartments project, located at the NWC of South Wade Drive and East Williams Field Road.  This will be the Eleventh phase in the 365-acre master-planned development. The owner is seeking to increase the permitted density. Lyon’s Gate Apartments is a 360-unit multi-family development on 16 net acres. The design includes 16 residential structures – each at 20-24 units – featuring studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom options. Parking includes 40 canopy structures and seven garage…