Author: BEX Staff

By Arizona Commerce Authority FrameTec, a building component manufacturing plant and building framing services company, has announced plans to build a truss and wall panel manufacturing facility in Casa Grande. EDITOR’S NOTE: AZBEX was the first outlet to report on FrameTec’s Arizona plans last September. The new facility will consist of two plant buildings, with the first phase of construction commencing in summer 2024. The first plant is expected to be operational in 2026 followed by the second plant in 2027 and create more than 400 total new jobs. Representing a $150M capital investment, FrameTec’s Casa Grande facility will be…

Rare Earth LLC has filed a lawsuit against the City of Glendale claiming the City violated its procurement rules when it awarded a bid to purchase a City-owned site by the Agua Fria River to a competing firm. Rare Earth, a Glendale-based mining and gravel company, alleges in a Maricopa County Superior Court complaint filed in November that Glendale set up its solicitation process to favor M.R. Tanner Construction’s bid for the 48-acre property between Glendale Avenue and Bethany Home Road over its submission. It also claims the terms of the contract between Tanner and Glendale do not follow those…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX A collection of owners led by Emmerson Holdings has requested a rezoning of 880 acres in Surprise to allow the development of a new master-planned community called Desert Trails. The Surprise Planning and Zoning Commission will hear the requests March 21st. The Desert Trails property lies on both sides of Deer Valley Road between 219th Avenue and the alignment of 211th Avenue. The northern boundary sits on the Pinnacle Peak alignment, and the southern is generally half-a-mile south of Deer Valley. The property is currently zoned Planned Area Development and Rural Residential. The current request…

The U.S. Department of Labor has determined subcontractors misclassified 227 workers’ employment and job statuses on the Northwest Light Rail Extension project in Phoenix and has recovered slightly more than $607K. The Wage and Hour Division said the subcontractors incorrectly classified trades workers as general labors under the prevailing wage rule. In January, the City of Phoenix passed its own prevailing wage ordinance to bring wages on City-funded projects in line with skilled union workers. The Goldwater Institute has filed a lawsuit challenging the local ordinance, saying it violates Arizona law on two points. The recently announced federal actions are…

By Associated Builders and Contractors Construction input prices increased 1.4% in February compared to the previous month, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data. Nonresidential construction input prices increased 1.3% for the month. Overall construction input prices are 1.5% higher than a year ago, while nonresidential construction input prices are 1.8% higher. Prices increased in two of the three energy subcategories last month. Crude petroleum input prices were up 7.5%, while unprocessed energy materials were up 3.6%. Natural gas prices declined 7.2% in February. “For the last several…

Giving Back 1. Lokahi Teams announced the first annual Fundraiser Carnival to be held at Dobson High School in Mesa. The fundraiser will help young individuals overcome obstacles to sports participation by providing the necessary financial support. Awards & Accolades 2. Rick Butler and Jeff Cutberth, partners at Butler Design Group for 28 years, have both been named recipients of NAIOP Arizona’s 2023 Award of Excellence. The ceremony will be held April 25th at the JW Marriott Camelback Inn. 3. TREND Report has announced the recipients of the 2023 Best-in-Class Broker® Awards for the second year, recognizing professionals who perform…

Sales Transactions 1. The 330-unit Tucson apartment community The Peak at Oro Valley was recently sold in a $59.8M transaction orchestrated by Clint Wadlund and Hamid Panahi with Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap. The parties were not disclosed. 2. CapRock Partners has paid $45.5M for Chandler Airport Business Center, a four-building, 318.7KSF industrial park in Chandler. The seller was Chamberlain Development, LLC, an entity of Sun State Builders, which also served as general contractor. The sale was brokered by Stein Koss, Tom Lauer and Fenton Kelly of Lee & Associates Arizona, who also serve as the…

The Tempe City Council has approved $23M in improvements for Tempe Diablo Stadium. The first phase of the overall renovation plan will feature a new Major/Minor League clubhouse, a player development area and a performance lab. There will also be an onsite kitchen, team dining area, weight and locker rooms, meeting space and an office area. Work is expected to begin in April and to be finished before next year’s Spring Training season. The Phase I project was initially estimated at $20.9M. Tempe will provide $10.9M. The Los Angeles Angels had initially pledged $10M but will also cover any overages…

Moving and storage firm Muscular Moving Men plans to build a new warehouse and office facility on 4.71 acres on East Rose Garden Lane near Cave Creek Road in north Phoenix. The 68.5KSF facility will have nearly 62.5KSF of warehouse space and 6KSF of office area serving as home base to more than 100 employees and 50 moving trucks. Muscular Moving Men and its corporate moving division M3 Commercial Moving & Logistics purchased the property jointly from Horse Help, a therapeutic horse riding nonprofit. Muscular Moving Men will provide services to Horse Help as the group relocates to its facility…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX – BEXCLUSIVE There was a bevy of housing and housing construction-related news in my inbox this week. There always is, of course, but lots of this week’s messages had actual data instead of just the usual handwringing. Since Housing makes up more than 27% of the Arizona construction market, we felt a recap and scanning of the lay of the land might be in order. Supply and Demand Balancing Let’s start by taking a look at multifamily rents at the end of February. According to the Yardi Matrix National Multifamily Report, rents increased by $1…