Author: BEX Staff

Awards & Accolades 1. ENR Southwest ranked the largest projects to start construction during the last year across Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. The Arizona projects that made the list are: LG Energy Battery Plant – Cylindrical Batteries Building — $1.6B; SunZia Southwest Transmission — $1B; KOREPlex Lithium Battery Manufacturing Facility — $850M; Desert Diamond West Glendale Casino — $450M; South Pier (Lot 6) PH1 Residential Towers — $385M; Eleven Mile Solar Center — $338M; Google Data Center (Project Red Hawk) Phase 1 — $330M; Chang Chun Industrial Solvents Factory — $300M; Nestle Manufacturing Plant (Project Raven) — $294.1M; Aligned…

Maricopa County has approved a $16.7M agreement with NAC El Mirage Housing LLC to fund The Flats at El Mirage, a 45-unit affordable housing project planned on El Mirage Road in Surprise. The package consists of $10.6M in American Rescue Plan Act funds and more than $6M from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOME Investment Partnership Program. Thirteen of the planned units will be non-congregate shelter spaces, providing short-term housing for residents waiting to transition into a permanent unit after completing a supportive service program. Resident families must earn 60% or less than the Area Median Income, which…

The Tempe Coalition for Affordable Housing has paid $2.77M for a vacant 1.27-acre parcel on East Apache Blvd. near McClintock Drive. The group plans to eventually develop a multi-story multifamily development on the site for low-to-moderate-income residents. While there are no drawings or specific plans for the eventual development, officials expect 40-50 units will ultimately be built. The Coalition currently has approximately 60 properties under management. The Apache location was its first vacant lot buy, since it typically purchases existing housing, improves it, and rents it out as a permanently affordable property. Funding for the purchase was provided through Tempe’s…

The Arizona Legislature has approved a measure that will curtail some municipal zoning regulations in an attempt to increase housing development and affordability. The bipartisan measure now awaits Gov. Katie Hobbs’ signature or veto. Hobbs has not taken a stance on previous legislative attempts to reform zoning and design requirements at the state level and has, instead, pressed legislators to support programs for down payment and mortgage rate assistance. Her office declined to comment on Hobbs’ intended action on the legislation currently before her. HB 2570, also known as the Arizona Starter Homes Act, would only apply to cities with…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged from December to January, remaining at 4.2%, according to the latest report published by the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity. The national unemployment rate was also unchanged month-to-month at 3.7%. Last December, Arizona had a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.7%, while the national rate was 3.4%. The Construction sector lost 2,500 jobs around the state from December through January. Arizona had a not-seasonally adjusted loss of 38,3100 jobs in nonfarm employment in November. “Prior to the pandemic (2010-2019), NSA nonfarm employment lost 51,000 jobs on average in January,”…

Having failed to win voter approval for an expansive Health and Wellness Village at Fort Tuthill last November, Northern Arizona Healthcare has been working to update plans for an ambulatory care center and to find a new location for the Flagstaff Medical Center. NAH officials say those plans will no longer include an overall health village, although supporting options remain under consideration. An opposition group secured enough petition signatures to put the original master plan on a referendum ballot after the first phase of zoning was approved in June. Flagstaff Community First lobbied extensively against the new campus master plan,…

By Associated Builders and Contractors The construction industry added 23,000 jobs on net in February, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has expanded by 215,000 jobs, an increase of 2.7%. Nonresidential construction employment grew by 24,200 positions on net, with growth in all three subcategories. Heavy and civil engineering gained the most jobs, increasing by 12,500 positions. Nonresidential specialty trade and nonresidential building added 7,400 and 4,300 jobs, respectively. The construction unemployment rate rose to 7.0% in February. Unemployment across all industries…

Promotions 1. Jacque Petroulakis has been promoted to Chief Communications Officer at NexMetro. She has been with the firm for seven years. 2. Eric Meister at Sunland Asphalt & Construction, LLC has been promoted to Director of Sales from Senior Estimator. 3. PENTA Building Group has promoted Jason Luna to Project Executive. 4. Cannon & Wendt Electric has promoted three members to leadership positions. Mark Ross was promoted to Manager of Field Operations, replacing retired Sterling Woods. Toby Howard was promoted to Operations Manager. Finally, Zach McCoy was promoted to the new role of Virtual Design Manager. 5. Earthworks Environmental…

Sales Transactions 1. CBRE handled the sale of Sentio, a 325-unit multifamily community in north Phoenix. CBRE’s Asher Gunter, Matt Pesch, Sean Cunningham and Austin Groen represented Hines in the sale of the community. IDEAL Capital Group purchased Sentio for $108M. Trevor Breaux, Troy Tegeler and Ryan Greer, with the CBRE Debt & Structured Finance team, arranged the financing on behalf of the buyer. News reports say TSMC is the master tenant for the property, and Mark-Taylor Residential Inc. is the property manager. 2. Cushman & Wakefield announced the $24.3M sale of 2632 E. Chambers St., a nearly 115KSF Class…

By Easterly Government Properties, Inc. Easterly Government Properties, Inc.—a fully integrated real estate investment trust focused primarily on the acquisition, development and management of Class A commercial properties leased to the U.S. Government —announced it has been awarded a 20-year non-cancelable lease for a 50,777 rentable square foot Federal courthouse in Flagstaff. JUD – Flagstaff is expected to be a state-of-the-art, three-story courthouse that is constructed according to Level III security requirements. The steel framed, natural stone clad facility is designed utilizing the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles and incorporates a number of important safety features, including perimeter fencing,…