Author: Roland Murphy

Back in February, BEX Research staff reached out to the City of Peoria to check on any updates with the Peoria Place master plan. Chief Business Attraction Officer David Valenzuela responded, saying Peoria Place was going through a purchase agreement, that it should be complete in April and that they could release more information then. Earlier this week, we received that information, and it is, in the words of DATABEX Manager Lya Parrish, “a doozy.” In response to a public records request, Peoria supplied us with 20 pages of documents related to a March 9th pre-application meeting the City had…

Desert Foothills Lutheran Church is seeking approval from the Scottsdale Development Review Board to proceed with the third phase of its campus expansion. The 15.24-acre site on North Scottsdale Road south of Dixileta Drive currently has slightly more than 21KSF of sanctuary, classroom and office space. The planned third phase will restructure parking on site (removing 47 parking spaces in one area and adding 163 in another) and add several new buildings and features. New construction includes a 13.4KSF “Family Life Center,” a 9.3KSF “Contemporary Worship Center,” a 3.6KSF addition to the current sanctuary building, and new walkways, shade structures…

Giving Back Cox recently kicked off its “34 by 34” social impact initiative at South Mountain Park with a $250K grant to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley. The grant will fund the installation of solar panels at the Rosenzweig Boys & Girls Club branch in Phoenix. The Arizona Chapter of NAIOP partnered this semester with Junior Achievement of Arizona to teach a course entitled, “Real Estate Development and the Built Environment,” to students at Gateway Early College High School. NAIOP volunteer instructors included Alex Boles, ViaWest Group; Damon Jeffrey, Mortenson; David Kinney, Raintree Capital; Stirling Pascal, Lee & Associates Arizona; Peggy Maxwell, Plaza Companies; Samantha Pinkal, Greater Phoenix Economic Council; Ashley Nye, Trammell Crow…

Sale Transactions Sky Harbor BP Realty Company LLC, an entity of JP Morgan Asset Management, has bought about 83 acres at the NEC of 7th Avenue and Elwood Street from Merit Partners for $145M. Initial ground improvements were performed at the Merit Sky Harbor Industrial Park site last year, but no vertical construction plans were ever submitted to the City of Phoenix. Both parties were represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Andy Markham, Will Strong, Greer Oliver, Phil Haenel, Connor Nebeker-Hay, Michael Haenel and Kirk Kuller.Decron Properties has purchased the 271-unit Ascent at Papago Park apartment community near Van Buren and 48th streets in Phoenix for $107.5M. The company plans to invest $2.5M…

The City of Peoria’s proposed $783M budget focuses heavily on creating 24 new full-time staff positions to better handle public service needs. The City Council reviewed the Fiscal Year 2023 budget late last month. The grand total amounts to a 12.7% increase over the previous budget. The thematic structure of the spending plan centers around seven key livability issues: Public safety,Economic prosperity,Healthy neighborhoods,Integrated transportation,Arts, culture and recreation,Public services, and Smart growth. Projects of interest to the development community include two new fire stations in the northern part of the city and various street maintenance, pavement management and transit option programs. Under parks and recreation,…

Developers are, by nature, an optimistic group. Even simple and straightforward building projects can sometimes take years to move from idea to ribbon cutting. Nothing says “developer optimism” like a master plan. The time and financial investments to walk a multi-project vision from proposal through entitlements and approvals, development team assembly, design and execution are daunting. It’s a years- sometimes decades-long gamble as to whether the economy, growth and popularity of a targeted area will hold long enough to realize a return. Three master plans floating around various jurisdictions – all considered outlining areas to one degree or another –…

Credit: DATABEX/BEX Companies By Roland Murphy for AZBEX A recent proposal by Gorman & Company, Inc. will, if built according to plan, produce 368 units of affordable housing at 6529 W. Glendale Ave. in Glendale. Centerline on Glendale is planned for 12.9 acres. The project will consist of eight three- and four-story buildings with 170 one-bedroom, 154 two-bedroom and 44 three-bedroom units. According to the materials submitted to the City of Glendale, the site will include a one-story amenity building in the center of the development with a community room, leasing office, outdoor splash pad and a playground space. Resident…

Giving Back 1: Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has made a $436M donation to Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity Central Arizona will receive $8.5M and will use the funds for new home construction, home repair and neighborhood revitalization. Awards & Accolades 2: TDIndustries, Inc. is proud to announce it has earned a spot on the Associated Builders and Contractors 2022 Top Performers List. TDIndustries is ranked No. 12 on the Top 200 Performers List. In addition to ranking No. 12 overall, TDIndustries is also recognized as: 1 – Top Plumbing/HVAC Contractors, and 3 – Top Trade Contractors. TDIndustries also placed among…

By Roland Murphy and Rebekah Morris for AZBEX Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased to 3.6% in February, down from 3.7% in January, according to the latest report published by the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity. The national rate decreased to 3.8% from 4.0%. In February 2021, the state had a seasonally adjusted rate of 6.0%, and the national was 6.2%. The state had a net gain of 27,400 non-farm jobs over the month. “Historically (2012- 2021), nonfarm employment has recorded a gain of 22,800 jobs in February,” the report states. The private sector gained 22,500 jobs in January. Education…

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors and the Town of Queen Creek have both approved a Development and Intergovernmental Agreement for a new $2.8B industrial project planned in Queen Creek in their March 16th meetings. Both also approved a resolution in support of a Foreign Trade Zone application by ES America LLC that is related to the same project. The measures concern a site consisting of 650 acres of Arizona State Trust Land at Ironwood Drive and Germann Road in Queen Creek where ES America plans to build an approximately 1MSF manufacturing facility. Once operational, the plant will provide an…