Author: BEX Staff

Giving Back 1. Melissa Owen, a ranch owner in Sasabe, started organizing State Route 286 cleanups in 1995. She expanded nine years ago to clean the highway from end to end in one day, an event she calls “All the Way to the Border.” On Jan. 27, Owen and 100 volunteers filled bags with litter as part of the cleanup effort. All the Way to the Border is aided by the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Tucson-based Southcentral District, which issues a special permit for the cleanup, and from ADOT’s Three Points Maintenance Yard, which had staff on hand during the…

Sales Transactions 1. Riverside Apts LLC purchased Riverside Suites, a 29KSF investment property at 1725 E. Limberlost Dr. in Tucson. The 33-unit apartment property was purchased from Campbell 33 LLC for $5.15M. Allan Mendelsberg and Joey Martinez with Cushman & Wakefield | PICOR represented both parties. 2. Larsen Baker (as Dorado Opportunity Group, LLC) has paid $3.5M for a nine-building, 71KSF office and medical building campus at 1200 N. El Dorado, Tucson. Larsen Baker’s Isaac Figueroa represented the firm in its purchase. Dave Volk of VOLK Company and Jim Fijan with Transwestern represented seller El Dorado Ventures, LLC. 3. Kerry…

The Tempe Development Review Commission has recommended approval for a rezoning request from LV Collective to rezone a former Super 8 Motel property near Apache Blvd. and Rural Road to allow for the development of a 289-unit, 15-story apartment community. 1020 Apache would feature 36 studio, 36 one-bedroom, 47 two-bedroom, 17 three-bedroom and 153 four-bedroom units, along with approximately 3KSF of ground floor restaurant/retail space. The City of Tempe had used some of the motel rooms as transitional shelter space for members of the area’s homeless community. Those temporary residents were relocated to other facilities last month. Officials with LV…

By GTIS Partners GTIS Partners and Clyde Capital have announced the development of Asante Trails—a $250M mixed-use, master-planned community in Surprise. The project will include a build-to-rent community, retail space and a medical facility and will be built across 90 acres of land acquired by GTIS and Clyde. In conjunction with the land acquisition, GTIS and Clyde sold 20 acres within the project to HonorHealth to develop the medical facility. Forty-five acres will be allocated to a joint venture between Clyde and SimonCRE to establish a multi-phase retail center. GTIS will retain the 25-acre balance of the site for a…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX – BEXCLUSIVE Water is the only outside consumable allowed in the auditorium at the Arizona Heritage Center in Tempe. Attendees of the initial session of BEX’s 2024 Construction Activity Forecast event this week wouldn’t have noticed, as they were hit with firehose-sized volumes of data from Minute 1. Following the format and structure attendees have come to know and love, BEX Founder and President Rebekah Morris welcomed the audience and then launched into her ever-engaging overview of historical and current economic and construction market conditions, with current rates of change and quickfire causal explanations that…

By BEX Staff for AZBEX Plans to bring Arizona’s first Buc-ee’s retail and travel center to a 71-acre property at the SEC of Interstate 10 and Bullard Avenue in Goodyear moved a step closer to reality last week when the Goodyear Planning and Zoning Commission voted to recommend a rezoning request for the site. Media reports say the west side of the property would feature a 75.4KSF Buc-ee’s retail store with a service station. Buc-ee’s is a popular chain across the south, particularly in Texas, and offer large footprint retail/convenience stores with a wider array of products and services than…

By Home Matters Arizona Fund and Home Matters to Arizona The Home Matters Arizona Fund, an innovative funding resource formed by Arizona healthcare leaders and Home Matters to Arizona to increase attainable housing in the state and ultimately improve health outcomes, has announced new funding. Four projects in Flagstaff, Phoenix, Tempe, and Tucson will receive a total of $2M. Since 2020, the Home Matters Arizona Fund has provided $10.3M through 24 grants. The Fund addresses Arizona’s rising affordability crisis while paying attention to the role of social determinants of health and housing as a quality of life issue. Housing built…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX As promised, the Goldwater Institute has filed a lawsuit against the City of Phoenix arising from the City’s recent institution of a prevailing wage for construction workers on most City projects. AZBEX has reported extensively on the movement to pass prevailing wage ordinances around the state. Our most recent coverage is available here, here and here. Phoenix’s ordinance sets a required pay rate equivalent to union labor rates based on workers’ positions as defined under an expanded version of the federal Davis-Bacon Act. Multiple industry groups, including Associated Builders and Contractors and the National Association…

Awards & Accolades 1. Estrella Welcome Center revitalization project is a finalist for the Gold Award in the Best Community Welcome Center category in the National Association of Home Builders’ “The National Awards 2024” competition. The project earned a Silver Award for being an NAHB finalist and is a collaborative effort led by Claudia Sieb of The Sieb Organization and the team from Creative License International. Groundbreakings 2. Strata Clean Energy broke ground on the $500M Scatter Wash battery-storage complex in Phoenix that will feature 312 batteries. The complex is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025.…

Since City Council passed the Housing Phoenix Plan in 2022, Phoenix’s plan to improve the local affordable housing landscape by selling or leasing City-owned parcels has had successes, but more work and opportunities remain. Approximately 20 properties were identified under the initial plan as possible new housing locations. Sites were chosen because they were suitable for housing development and not planned for other uses, according to Deputy Housing Director Samantha Keating. One project has gone through the process so far. Council approved plans from Richman Group of Arizona for a two-phase development next to the Helen Drake Senior Center at…