Awards & Accolades
1. Achen-Gardner Construction’s Primus Line Installation project at Thunderbird Rd and the Loop 101 for the City of Peoria has won a 2018 Engineering Excellence Grand Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Arizona.
2. Hines announced that 24th at Camelback II has been recertified Platinum under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance Rating System. The property, owned by Hines and an East Coast pension fund advised by Invesco, first achieved LEED Platinum in 2013.
3. The University of Arizona Tech Park won Tucson’s Most Innovative Workplace and the Best Workplace Culture based on votes from the Arizona Daily Star Reader’s Choice Awards.
4. The Arizona Department of Transportation’s pilot Interstate 17 wrong-way vehicle alert system being tested in Phoenix has been recognized with a Government Innovation Award from GCN, an information technology industry magazine.
Groundbreakings
5. Community members were invited to join Queen Creek Unified School District officials on Sept. 10 to celebrate the groundbreaking of QCUSD elementary school No. 7. The new school, which is not yet named, is in the Cadence at Gateway community located in the northern part of the district’s boundaries. QCUSD has hired DLR Group as the architect and Chasse Building Team is serving as general contractor.
6. Construction has started on the frontage road along 59th Avenue south of the I-10 with work starting between Roosevelt Street and Lower Buckeye Road in west Phoenix as part of Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway construction. The Arizona Department of Transportation project is creating 2.5-mile frontage roads to maintain northbound and southbound access to businesses and residences adjacent to the freeway.
Progress Reports
7. Downtown Phoenix is on track to have a grocery store by the fourth quarter of next year. RED Development began construction on Block 23 at First and Washington streets in April 2017 and has kept on pace with the original construction timeline. The development will bring a Fry’s Food Store, as well as other retail and lobby space.
8. Nine months after breaking ground, the Tohono O’odham Nation is making progress on its new Desert Diamond West Valley Casino. The casino is being built adjacent to the temporary casino the tribe opened in 2015, near 93rd and Northern avenues, and will open by the end of 2019.
Completions
9. Arizona State University opened a new building at its bioscience facility Sept. 17. Building C adds 200KSF of space, making ASU’s facility the largest bioscience institute in the state. ZGF Architects designed the building and McCarthy Construction Co. was the general contractor.
10. After two decades of research, planning and raising funds, First Place-Phoenix is now open on Third Street and Catalina Drive. The 81KSF, four-story housing project for adults with autism and other special needs and abilities is designed to nurture independence and community partnerships.
11. The Marriott Phoenix Mesa is set to reopen under a new brand after a full-scale, multimillion-dollar renovation. The Mesa hotel at 200 N. Centennial Way is expected to open Oct. 3. It has been rebranded and will be known going forward as Delta Hotels Phoenix Mesa.
12. Achen-Gardner Construction has recently completed the Hunt Highway and Empire Boulevard Widening CMAR project for the Town of Queen Creek. The project included approximately 7,000SY of pavement, 11,000SF of sidewalk, 6,000LF of curb/gutter, a new six-barrel box culvert and various wet utilities.
13. Topgolf’s newest Metro Phoenix location 6101 N. 99th Ave in Glendale will open 9 a.m. Friday. The three-story entertainment complex offers more than 100 climate-controlled hitting bays where groups of up to six players can compete for points on the driving range.
14. NexMetro Communities is opening three new Avilla communities in the Valley to meet the demand for the its luxury leased home lifestyle option. The communities – Avilla Lehi Crossing in Mesa, Avilla Centerra Crossings in Goodyear and Avilla Camelback Ranch in West Phoenix – will all open in September.