Awards & Accolades
1. Achen-Gardner Construction’s Carefree Water Consolidation CMAR project won the ACEC Arizona Engineering Excellence Award. The Town of Carefree selected Achen-Gardner as the prime contractor and CVL Consultants as the design engineer.
2. Achen-Gardner Construction won Project of the Year for a siphon repair job on a Pima County JOC project. The award was granted at the Reline America Annual Installer Meeting in Virginia. Achen-Gardner also placed third for Most Material Installed.
Groundbreakings
3. The City of Phoenix Housing Department and Gorman & Company celebrated the groundbreaking of Girasol Apartments, a replacement of Sidney P. Osborn Apartments. Girasol will replace 145 outdated public housing units with 364 new affordable apartments in the Edison-Eastlake community. Gorman & Company serves as the project’s developer, general contractor and architect. Apartments will include one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Girasol is funded in part by the General Obligation bond program. The new development will be completed in three construction phases from 2026 to 2027.
4. RED Development and Life Time announced construction has begun on the 300-unit Life Time Living Tower apartment project at PV, the former site of the Paradise Valley Mall. The project, located at 4568 E. Cactus Road, is expected to complete construction in 2026.
5. On behalf of Merit Partners Inc., Stevens-Leinweber Construction has begun construction on Tex Industrial, a 17.2-acre industrial project in Goodyear. Located within the Loop 303 Corridor, this project will deliver two buildings to the PV303 master-planned business park. The north building will be 100.7KSF, and the south building will be 132.5KSF.
6. The University of Arizona held a groundbreaking ceremony for its Health Sciences Center for Advanced Molecular and Immunological Therapies. The 200KSF biomedical research hub is located within the Phoenix Bioscience Core in downtown Phoenix.
7. Agate Construction celebrated the commencement of construction on the expansion of an automotive corrosion testing facility with a ceremonial groundbreaking at the 3,050-acre facility in Stanfield. Agate serves as the general contractor for the 5.2KSF ground-up expansion. The project consists of both the addition and a remodel of the existing corrosion testing facility. The project is expected to be completed in 11 months.
Progress Reports
8. Chanen Construction marked a milestone on its $32M expansion project at Phoenix Theatre Company. Subcontractor Rouser Concrete completed the final concrete pour for the structural walls for the new Dr. Stacie J. and Richard Stephenson Theatre in Phoenix. Chanen held a celebratory lunch on Oct. 23. Chanen’s goal is to complete construction by summer 2025.
9. Achen-Gardner Construction announced progress is being made on Phase Two of its Downtown Streetscape Improvements – Mill Avenue, Rio Salado Parkway to University Drive CMAR project. Achen-Gardner has started removing old pavers along the sidewalk for replacements.
10. Mattel announced its pushing back the completion date for its 9-acre Mattel Adventure Park near the upcoming VAI Resort in Glendale. The park was originally scheduled to open in late 2024. Now it is anticipated to open in 2025.
11. Concord General Contracting held a beam signing event and jobsite tour for its Saguaro Creek K-8 project in Tucson. Community members had the opportunity to write on a beam, which will live within the walls of Saguaro Creek K-8 for years to come. Swaim Associates was also in attendance.
Completions
12. Achen-Gardner Construction announced Village Parkway in Litchfield Park is officially open to traffic. Achen-Gardner crews paved more than 19,900 square yards as part of its Litchfield Square Infrastructure Improvements CMAR project to create a new city center.
13. TEPCON Construction announced the completion of a 6KSF credit union branch for Desert Financial Credit Union in Prescott. The project began in February of this year.
14. The City of Sedona held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for eight new pickleball courts at Posse Grounds Park. The courts have a combined cost of $1.6M. Minor work on the courts continues as windscreens and a backstop are to be installed. The project also provided 32 new parking spots.