Awards & Accolades
1. DWL Architects + Planners, Inc. (DWL) received the AIA Twenty-Five Year Award for the Burton Barr Central Library designed in collaboration with William Bruder Architects. Opened in 1994, the 280KSF five-story building is partially situated over a major interstate highway tunnel and to this day features the largest reading room in Arizona, 43KSF. At the project’s inception in 1989, the joint venture design team was faced with the challenge of creating a symbolic yet functional cornerstone for downtown Phoenix’s Margaret T. Hance Deck Park and a gateway to the City’s newly designated Downtown Arts District redevelopment. The library simultaneously changed the City’s skyline and created a featured destination in the downtown Phoenix landscape.
Groundbreakings
2. The University of Arizona broke ground on an $85M, 89KSF, three-story Applied Research Building at the SEC of East Helen Street and North Highland Avenue, Tucson. The project is expected to be completed by January 2023. SmithGroup is the design firm and McCarthy Building Companies is the general contractor.
3. RED Development began the demolition process for the Paradise Valley Mall Redevelopment. The first phase of the multimillion-dollar redevelopment includes the demolition of the former Sears and Macy’s departments stores and then other portions of the mall. Demolition is expected to continue through the rest of the year, and construction on retail and residential units will begin in the fall of 2021. Nelsen Partners is the design firm and StreetLights Residential is the general contractor.
4. The Arizona Department of Transportation has started a project to improve traffic flow at the intersection of SR 89 and Road 1 North in Chino Valley. The project will add a right-turn lane on northbound SR 89 to eastbound Road 1 North, add left turn lanes on Road 1 North, and install a new traffic signal and detection sensors. The $850K project is expected to wrap up by the end of the year.
Progress Reports
5. The planned American Leadership Academy-West Foothills campus near 175th and Olive avenues in Waddell, which broke ground on April 23rd, announced in mid-June the campus opening will be pushed to 2022-2023. ALA was delayed in receiving permits due to pandemic-related backlogs when they announced the delay but has since received the permit and has moved forward with construction. Carhuff + Cueva Architects, LLC is the design firm and McGrath Construction is the general contractor.
6. Hines announced that pre-leasing has begun and hard-hat tours for potential residents of Adeline, the new luxury residential high-rise community at the Collier Center in downtown Phoenix, will begin this month. The property, which is being managed by Willowick Residential is scheduled to welcome its first residents in October 2021. SmithGroup is the design firm and Whiting-Turner is the general contractor.
7. Eckard Commercial Construction crews are working on steel roof beams on the 928X Elite Garages project at 3964 E. 43rd Street, Yuma. The project, developed by 928X Motorsports, will feature climate-controlled, elite, privately owned luxury garages in two sizes – large, 3KSF and extra-large, 6KSF.
Completions
8. Mark-Taylor, along with Consolidated Investment Group announced that ArLo, a luxury apartment 
home community at 2121 N. 44th Street, Phoenix, is now leasing. The first residents moved into the community in May 2021, and it is filling up fast.
9. The $950K Glendale O’Neil Park Splash Pad opened on May 29th, 2021 at O’Neil Park in Glendale. FCI Constructors Inc. completed this project in just under five months. Special features include a bucket that dumps nine gallons of water every 1-1/2 minutes, spray cannons that are constructed to only spray toward the splash pad and not at those sitting nearby, and artificial turf along the perimeter of the splash pad.
10. Landsea Homes Corporation announced that Madison Square, which consists of 40 single-family homes in North Central Phoenix, will open for sale on July 17th. An extension of the Madison Square community, 14th at Town & Country is a rare enclave of 13 additional single-family homes located just blocks away.