Giving Back
1. This year, Suntec, the largest commercial concrete contractor in the Southwest, delivered care packages to nearly 100 teachers across Arizona, Utah and Colorado as part of their Teacher Appreciation program.
Awards & Accolades
2. The Arizona Association for Economic Development has issued presented its annual Economic Development Distinguished by Excellence Awards. The 11 awards and recipients were:
- Best of Arizona Award – Arizona Commerce Authority’s Small Business Bootcamp;
- Economic Developer of the Year, Large Community – Barbra Coffee, director of economic initiatives, City of Tucson;
- Economic Developer of the Year, Medium Community – Ken Chapa, economic development director, City of Avondale;
- Large Organization of the Year – Salt River Project;
- Medium Organization of the Year – City of Casa Grande;
- Small Organization of the Year – City of Prescott;
- Member of the Year – Amanda Bruno, AZED Pro, project manager, City of Tucson;
- New Member of the Year – Jack Fitchett, AZED Pro, business attraction manager, City of Flagstaff;
- Workforce Practitioner of the Year — Cheryl Covert, assistant director, City of Avondale.
- Provider of the Year – Speedie & Associates, Inc.;
- The William Lampkin Award for Long Term Excellence – David Roderique, deputy city manager, City of Buckeye.
3. Former Scottsdale Planning Commissioner and current VP of Land Sales at ORION Real Estate Investment Larry Kush has been named one of the Top 200 Experts in the Construction Industry for the third consecutive year in a row by Fixr.com.
4. The team of Joseph Reyes, Lauren Madu and Jeremy Real has won the 9th Annual REIAC/Rockefeller Group Challenge. The group was one of six teams of graduating Masters of Real Estate Development students from Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business. Of the six teams submitting, three were selected for the competition. This year’s project was to create and provide development proposals for the San Lucy District of the Tohono O’odham Nation that were “to be culturally relevant; to be family focused; and to provide significant financial benefits for the District.”
Boards & Commissions
4. Dr. Jackie Elliott has joined the Maricopa Economic Development Alliance Board of Directors.
Company News
5. Taylor Morrison Home Corp. has entered into an $850M joint venture with VP Moondance Holdings LLC (Varde Partners) to acquire undeveloped land for Build-to-Rent projects.
6. Build-to-Rent developer Avenue North has launched a third-party construction firm to build projects for other firms in the space. Avenue North Construction has targeted building 1,000 new units/year. The company has hired Jean Loredo as regional construction manager and intends to add senior estimators and site superintendents as it grows.
7. Phoenix-based Paul Johnson Drywall, Inc. announced it has acquired Vatos Drywall, a long-term and prolific residential drywall contractor based in Orlando, Florida.
Promotions
8. Terracon announced the promotion of Tracy Grover to Senior VP/Rocky Mountain Division Manager.
9. Sundt Construction has promoted Travis McCarthy to Senior VP and Southwest Regional Manager for its Transportation group.
New Hires
10. SCS Engineers recently announced four new hires. Joining the SCS team are:
- Mike Bradford, Senior Professional Engineer;
- Cynthia Neitzel, Professional Engineer;
- Taylor Goins, Field Services, and
- Samantha Montgomery, Technical Associate.
11. Shannon Cox Baker has joined Pennrose as the company’s regional VP for the Mountain Region.
12. Adam Macey and Scott McAdams have both recently joined W.E. O’Neil Construction as Project Managers.
13. The Town of Wickenburg has hired Stephen Erno to serve as its new Town Manager.
