Author: BEX Staff

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX The Payson Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended approval of a pair of requests that will enable development of a nearly 84-acre master planned development at the NWC of Longhorn Road and Green Valley Parkway. Developer Capital Investments, LLC has requested a minor General Plan amendment for a 16.25-acre parcel on the site. The overall Longhorn Ranch master plan is made up of four parcels, with sizes and planned uses broken out as: Parcel 1: 21.49 gross acres, Single Family Attached, Parcel 2: 31.40 gross acres, Single Family Detached, Parcel 3: 15.14 gross acres, Single…

By BEX Staff for AZBEX The Mesa Board of Adjustment has approved a set of requested variances for a planned AC Hotel on a 0.9-acre lot at 104 E. Main St., on the NEC of Main Street and Centennial Way. According to submitted materials and a local news report, the requested variances cover: Ceilings on the ground and upper floors, Floor depths, Courtyard width and Private frontage types, dooryard size and storefront size. The owner has also requested to opt into the Form Based Code administrative process. The Mesa General Plan has designated the area as Downtown, and the zoning…

The Mesa City Council approved selling $61M in general obligation bonds during its April 6 meeting. The sale of the GO bonds will benefit several projects, ranging from the under-construction Signal Butte Park expansion to upcoming projects. The Signal Butte Park expansion spans 45 acres and consists of multiple phases. The second phase, which is currently being constructed, consists of ramadas, a BMX track, 1.5 miles of walking trails and a pedestrian bridge to connect Phase Two to Phase One. The expansion has a $7.2M price tag. The City intends to issue $13M from its parks and cultural bond fund…

The Flagstaff Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of a proposal to ban data center development on a 4-3 vote during its recent meeting. City staff recommended creating a Conditional Use Permit process for data centers instead of enacting a total ban. Regardless, commissioners still moved forward with a recommendation to ban data center development in the city. AZBEX has extensively covered expanding data center restrictions throughout the state. Click here to view our previous coverage. In its recommendation for the ban, commissioners stressed the resource consumption and noise production tied to data centers. The Flagstaff City Council will discuss…

Groundbreakings 1. Burlington Stores has broken ground on a nearly 2MSF distribution center in Buckeye, located in the Westpark 360 Industrial Park, with plans to open in 2028. The project team includes developer partners Garrett Development and VanTrust Real Estate, Butler Design Group and POH+W as architects, Langan and Logan Simpson as engineers, and Layton Construction as the general contractor. 2. Construction is underway on The Ellison, a 380-unit multifamily community in Chandler, led by Stillwater Capital with partners Origin Investments and Eagle Realty Group. The project is located on a 12.3-acre site in the 45-acre The District Downtown development…

After securing voter approval for a suite of bond-financed construction projects last November, Coconino Community College is working to move those developments forward. The $100M CCC facilities improvements bond includes: Rebuilding the Fourth Street Campus, Adding an Allied Health Building on the Lone Tree Campus, Building student housing in Page and A learning lab with the Williams Local School District. CCC has selected DLR Group and BWS Architects as the design teams for the Allied Health Building and Fourth Street Campus, respectively. CORE Construction is the Construction Manager at Risk for both projects. The next step will be design work,…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX Employment in the Arizona Construction sector continued to seesaw at the start of 2026, as the sector reported a decrease of 2,200 jobs in January, according to the latest report published by the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 4.5%. The national unemployment rate dropped to 4.3%, down from 4.4 in December. In January 2025, Arizona had a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.2%. The national rate was 4.0%. Arizona had a not-seasonally adjusted decrease of 46,200 nonfarm employment jobs month-over-month. “Prior to the pandemic (2010-2019), NSA nonfarm employment…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX Long-stalled plans to develop market-rate multifamily at University Drive and Center Street in Mesa have now evolved into an opportunity to deliver 62 affordable senior housing units after City Council approved a lease and development agreement last month. The DATABEX project database shows plans for the nearly one-acre site at 17, 31 and 37 W. University Dr., dating back to at least 2020. The last iteration was a 54-unit plan with apartments sized between one and three bedrooms. The last reported activity was the property noted as listed for sale in December 2023. The City…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX The North America Q1 2026 RLB Crane Index shows Phoenix crane activity as “steady,” one of six cities noted as such in the 18-city review. Rider Levett Bucknall shows a generally steady trend across the country. The report’s Phoenix summary shows activity in the downtown area is centered around the Bioscience Core, “with two cranes at the University of Arizona’s CAMI project and another at the EV Hotel near Van Buren and Grand Ave.” The DATABEX project database and inquiries from the BEX research staff show this quote’s information to be incorrect. The EV AI…

Giving Back 1. On March 28, Achen-Gardner Construction employee-owners participated in the Run for World Water 5K, an annual event hosted by Water for People Arizona. The event raises funds to support access to clean water in developing countries. Achen-Gardner also served as a sponsor of the event, which was held at Arizona Falls in Phoenix, a facility the company constructed in 2004. Awards & Accolades 2. Caliente Construction announced its President & CEO, Lorraine Bergman, is the recipient of the Wink Ames Memorial Award for Pioneers in Construction. The award was presented by the Construction Financial Management Association. Bergman…