Author: BEX Staff

By National Association of Home Builders The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recently issued guidance on its independent contractor misclassification enforcement. The guidance comes as the 2024 Independent Contractor Rule is facing multiple challenges in federal court, and after Labor has indicated that it is considering rescinding the rule. The Wage and Hour Division will enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act as interpreted by Fact Sheet #13, issued in July 2008, and FLSA2019-6, an opinion letter issued on April 29, 2019. Fact Sheet #13 identifies seven factors which determine whether a worker is an independent contractor under the…

The City of Peoria is planning $522M over the next 10 years to support the future 6,700-acre Peoria Innovation Core. The City entered into an agreement with the Arizona State Land Department that lets it lead planning for the site, which largely centers in an area along Loop 303 between State Route 74 and Lake Pleasant Parkway. Peoria will make an initial investment of $140M for public roads and utility infrastructure to spur development of the intended economic development and business core targeted at attracting advanced industries. Projects planned for PIC in Fiscal Year 2026 total more than $116M and…

By Arizona Department of Transportation The Arizona Department of Transportation will hold a public hearing on the agency’s recommended statewide program of construction projects for the next five years. The in-person and virtual hearing on the 2026-2030 Tentative Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Friday, May 16, at the Bullhead City Council Chambers, 1255 Marina Blvd. It will be held during a meeting of the Arizona State Transportation Board that can be accessed at aztransportationboard.gov. Those wishing to provide comments remotely can request to do so until 8 a.m. the day of the hearing…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX Ardent Arizona, LLC is requesting a Comprehensive Plan and zoning amendment for 369 acres south of Puzzi Ranch Road on either side of Kings Highway near Douglas. The requests would change the site use from rural residential to light industrial. The Cochise County Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to hear the requests May 14. The location had been part of a master planned development site established in 2008, which reverted to a rural designation in 2022 after the proposed mixed-use development failed to materialize. Ardent now plans to develop the site with warehousing and…

By BEX Staff for AZBEX The Pinal County Board of Supervisors has approved a rezoning and planned area development overlay for 43.7 acres at Interstate 8 and Trekell Road south of Casa Grande for a proposed speculative industrial park. Project planner and representative The Planning Center explained the new industrial zoning will replace a mixture of previous zoning designations for the property, according to submitted materials and a local news article. The PAD overlay will allow for building heights of up to 60 feet and increase the types of uses allowed under the zoning. The project description says, “The I-8…

By National Association of Home Builders Confidence in the market for new multifamily housing declined year-over-year in the first quarter, according to the Multifamily Market Survey released by the National Association of Home Builders. The MMS produces two separate indices. The Multifamily Production Index had a reading of 44, down three points year-over-year, while the Multifamily Occupancy Index had a reading of 82, down one point year-over-year. The MPI measures builder and developer sentiment about current production conditions in the apartment and condo market on a scale of 0 to 100. The index and all its components are scaled so…

Awards & Accolades 1. The Best of NAIOP celebrated 30 years of recognizing the top-performing people, companies and projects of 2024 on May 1st at the Arizona Financial Theatre in downtown Phoenix. The Arizona Chapter of NAIOP bestowed awards in 36 categories before a crowd of 1,030 commercial real estate professionals. The winners were: Award of Excellence Mike Haenel, Cushman & Wakefield Company Awards Architect of the Year: Deutsch Architecture Group; Brokerage Firm of the Year: CBRE; Firm of the Year: ViaWest Group; General Contractor of the Year: Layton Construction; Industrial Owner/Developer of the Year: Prologis; Interior Architect of the…

Sales Transactions 1. TGM has acquired the 296-unit Ocotillo Bay apartments in Chandler for $90.5M. The community, now renamed TGM Ocotillo Bay, will be managed by TGM Communities LLC. CBRE represented the seller, a national fund manager. 2. McCarthy Cook & Company has acquired the 172.2KSF Tailwinds at Gateway industrial complex in Mesa for $51.5M. The fully leased Class A property includes four multi-tenant and six single-tenant free-standing buildings, with tenants such as ABB Inc., Hermle USA and Crane Worldwide Logistics. The Leroy Breinholt Team at Commercial Properties Inc. represented the seller, Jeff Arnold. 3. Arte Moreno (as San Tan…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX A pair of affordable multifamily apartment developments are under consideration for the Mercado District in Tucson. The City of Tucson’s Infill Incentive District’s Design Review Committee met May 5 in a discussion session to consider plans and designs for the proposed Linda Avenue Apartments at 115 S. Linda Ave. and Congress Street Apartments across the street at 701 W. Congress St. While the apartments will be priced in the affordable rent range, they will not have an official affordable housing designation. Owner OZ Development specializes in building multifamily communities in designated Opportunity Zones and currently…

Even with the Scottsdale Water Campus, home to the Water Department’s Advanced Water Treatment Facility, in the midst of a $30M upgrade, the City’s recycled water program will need nearly $51M more to meet current State of Arizona regulations. In a program commonly referred to as “Toilet to Taps,” Scottsdale has undertaken an advanced water purification program that filters and treats wastewater to drinking water quality. Scottsdale’s facility was the third in the country and first in the state to earn program approval. The Water Campus is one of the largest wastewater-to-drinkable water purification operations in the world and can…