What's Hot

    Mohave County May Remove Data Centers as Economic Development Goal

    July 23, 2025

    Yuma P&Z Recommends Multifamily General Plan Amendment

    July 23, 2025

    Ariz. Construction Gained 600 Jobs in June

    July 22, 2025
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    AZBEX
    NEWS TICKER
    • [July 23, 2025] - Mohave County May Remove Data Centers as Economic Development Goal
    • [July 23, 2025] - Yuma P&Z Recommends Multifamily General Plan Amendment
    • [July 22, 2025] - Ariz. Construction Gained 600 Jobs in June
    • [July 22, 2025] - Yavapai Board Enables Bid Process for Cornville Road Roundabout
    • [July 22, 2025] - Scottsdale Report Shows Multifamily Pipeline Half of Common Estimate
    • [July 22, 2025] - Industry Professionals 07-22-25
    • [July 22, 2025] - Commercial Real Estate 07-22-25
    • [July 21, 2025] - Alleging Breaches, ZenniHome Closes NGS Operations
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    • Home
    • News
      1. View Latest
      2. Planning & Development
      3. Local News
      4. Classifieds
      5. Editorial Analysis
      6. Budgets & Funding
      7. Commercial Real Estate
      8. People on the Move
      9. Arizona Projects
      10. Legislation & Regulations
      11. Trends

      Yuma P&Z Recommends Multifamily General Plan Amendment

      July 23, 2025

      Yavapai Board Enables Bid Process for Cornville Road Roundabout

      July 22, 2025

      Design Discussed for 45KSF Mesa Warehouse Plan

      July 18, 2025

      Potato Barn to Round Out Mesa Site with 48KSF Warehouse

      July 18, 2025

      Mohave County May Remove Data Centers as Economic Development Goal

      July 23, 2025

      Ariz. Construction Gained 600 Jobs in June

      July 22, 2025

      Scottsdale Report Shows Multifamily Pipeline Half of Common Estimate

      July 22, 2025

      Alleging Breaches, ZenniHome Closes NGS Operations

      July 21, 2025

      Glendale Voters to Determine VAI Resort’s Fate

      May 16, 2025

      Legislation Would Effectively Strip NIMBYs of Referendum Tool

      February 11, 2025

      2025 Forecast Tries to Clarify an Uncertain Market

      February 7, 2025

      KOREPlex Buckeye Site Quietly Listed For Sale

      January 31, 2025

      Ariz. LIHTC to Sunset Under New Budget

      July 8, 2025

      State Government Shutdown Averted as Hobbs Signs Budget

      July 1, 2025

      Arterial Life Cycle Program Covers 20 Years of Street Development

      June 27, 2025

      $56M+ MAG Program will Enable $90M in Arterial Street Widening Projects

      June 24, 2025

      Commercial Real Estate 07-22-25

      July 22, 2025

      Commercial Real Estate 07-15-25

      July 15, 2025

      Commercial Real Estate 07-08-25

      July 8, 2025

      Commercial Real Estate 07-01-25

      July 1, 2025

      Industry Professionals 07-22-25

      July 22, 2025

      Industry Professionals 07-15-25

      July 15, 2025

      Industry Professionals 07-08-25

      July 8, 2025

      Industry Professionals 07-01-25

      July 1, 2025

      Arizona Projects 07-18-25

      July 18, 2025

      Arizona Projects 07-11-25

      July 11, 2025

      Arizona Projects 06-27-25

      June 27, 2025

      Arizona Projects 06-20-25

      June 20, 2025

      Mohave County May Remove Data Centers as Economic Development Goal

      July 23, 2025

      Alleging Breaches, ZenniHome Closes NGS Operations

      July 21, 2025

      Ariz. LIHTC to Sunset Under New Budget

      July 8, 2025

      Tax Bill Would Make LIHTC Permanent

      July 2, 2025

      Ariz. Construction Gained 600 Jobs in June

      July 22, 2025

      BEX Updates Construction Sector Projections in Annual Midyear Update

      July 18, 2025

      Phoenix Industrial Sees First Vacancy Drop in Years; YoY Completions Drop 75%

      July 18, 2025

      Phoenix Construction Costs See 4.42% Q2 Annual Change

      July 15, 2025

      Mohave County May Remove Data Centers as Economic Development Goal

      July 23, 2025

      Yuma P&Z Recommends Multifamily General Plan Amendment

      July 23, 2025

      Ariz. Construction Gained 600 Jobs in June

      July 22, 2025

      Yavapai Board Enables Bid Process for Cornville Road Roundabout

      July 22, 2025
    • AZBEX
      • Subscribe
      • Classifieds
      • Advertising
    • DATABEX
      • Webinars
      • Monthly Snapshot
    • Events
      • 2025 Mid-Year Update
      • 2025 Industrial LMS
    • About Us
      • Meet the Company
      • Meet the Sales Team
      • Meet the Editorial Team
      • Meet the BEXperts
    AZBEX
    Home » Planning & Development » LMS Gives 20/20 Vision into Higher Ed Market
    Planning & Development

    LMS Gives 20/20 Vision into Higher Ed Market

    BEX StaffBy BEX StaffFebruary 11, 2020No Comments6 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX
    As 2020 settles in, BEX Events kicked off the first Leading Market Series of the New Year with a close look into the Higher Education market, specifically toward Arizona State University.
    More than 80 registered attendees gathered at ASU Skysong 3 on Thursday, February 6th, for the event to gain insight into any upcoming projects as well as how to do business with Higher Education owners.
    BEX Founder and President, Rebekah Morris began the presentation by giving the attendees a brief overview of the market, including top players, with analytics taken from the BEX Database.
    “Higher Education accounts for only about three percent of the total construction market, or $468M” Morris stated before listing the top owners by project valuation, which unsurprisingly were Arizona State University at 42 percent, Northern Arizona University at 18 percent and University of Arizona also at 18 percent. Creighton University and Northern Pioneer College were fourth and fifth on the list at five and three percent respectively.
    Morris also noted that 14 percent of projects have not yet selected a design firm and 23 percent have not yet selected a general contractor, meaning lots of opportunity.
    Key insights about the market show a very small presence of private universities, a decrease in State funding for Higher Education Capital Projects and key contacts changing.
    “The people that hire design and construction firms are changing,” said Morris. “I think there’s opportunity there. I think any time people change around, move roles, get promoted, retire, whatever that looks like, makes it a chance to reestablish connections or make new ones.”
    After the quick rundown of the market, an impressive panel consisting of Ben Baumes, development associate for Catellus, Pedro Chavarriaga, assistant director, FDM Capital Program Management Group for Arizona State University, and Diane Reicher Jacobs, principal for Holly Street Studio, with moderator Cassie Robertson, design manager for DPR Construction, took the stage to talk more about the Higher Education market.
    Projects Coming Up
    Baumes began by showing attendees what’s currently being done within the Novus Innovation Corridor, as well as highlighting a few new projects that are in the works, including:

    • 700 Novus Place – Class A mid-rise building with approximately 154KSF of office space and approximately 11.5KSF of retail space. According to Baumes, Catellus is working with SmithGroup on the design and the project has gone through the first round of city approvals. Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2021 with occupancy in the third quarter of 2023. Catellus is not yet confirmed as the vertical developer for this parcel. The University will select the development deal that is the most beneficial to them, which may or may not be Catellus.
    • Parcel 3A – Mixed-Use Block – a mixed-use development integrated with residential and hotel uses. Discussions are currently underway with hotel and residential developers. There is currently no timeline for construction.
    • Parcel 4F – Creative Office Campus 1 – three Class A office buildings with a minimum of 150KSF each. Escrow is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020, with construction starting in the third quarter and finishing in the fourth quarter of 2021.

    Speaking to the new projects, “We are in some sort of negotiation or design,” explained Baumes.
    As for ASU’s Capital Program Management Group, Chavarriaga noted the bond issues.
    “We don’t have large capital projects on the books right now. What we do have is three bond issues. One is infrastructure for the Tempe and Polytechnic campuses, very sorely needed… the other is classrooms and laboratories mainly for the Tempe campus. The third is for deferred maintenance for all campuses.”
    Chavarriaga went on to say that the future of ASU is heading more toward residential and Public-private partnerships and urged interested parties to look at ASU’s bid board for new projects.
    Bringing Teams in Earlier
    Looking ahead, Chavarriaga noted that ASU is becoming more focused on strategic partnerships and bringing teams in earlier.
    “Up front, we get the best people to do our work, and also to partner with us from day one.” He also discussed what it takes to win a job with ASU.
    “We put a lot of thought into the questions that we ask you to answer. For us, it does make a difference the team you present to us. The people that come in and represent their company, you can see it in the interview process, where their heart is. If you’re not putting value into what we’re asking, it sort of comes through.”
    Baumes agreed that having the right team is extremely important, and believes that getting contractors and architects together early is essential because, “the biggest challenge these days is construction costs. We wanted to have a thoughtful, intentional design but there’s no sense in doing that if you can’t afford it.” He went on to say that architects and contractors should work together to help come up with solutions to those types of problems.
    From an architectural standpoint, Diane Reicher Jacobs said that a trend that should be happening is to “help define a problem early on with real information, so that later on we can focus on making the building and not value engineering and sort of back tracking and second guessing.”
    She also noted that a winning solution is to have a multi-lingual team, a team from all backgrounds with many different cultures and levels of experience.
    Excitement and Fear for the Future
    Toward the end of the presentation, Robertson asked the panel what their biggest fear was moving forward and what they were most excited about. Both Chavarriaga and Baumes agreed that cost increases and materials acquisition were the biggest fears moving forward, yet were excited about the momentum left in the market despite the rising costs.
    Reicher Jacobs discussed skill as her fear. “We need to teach young architects to do more than what they’re doing,” she said explaining that while they do need to pay their dues, they don’t need to wait ten years to change the world.
    Her excitement for the future comes from the growing trend to do more with less, or taking a more minimalistic approach to development.
    The next Leading Market Series on April 2nd will discuss Healthcare. To check out dates and topics or to register for the next event, visit: http://bex-events.com/lms/.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Tumblr Email

    Related Posts

    Yuma P&Z Recommends Multifamily General Plan Amendment

    July 23, 2025

    Yavapai Board Enables Bid Process for Cornville Road Roundabout

    July 22, 2025

    Design Discussed for 45KSF Mesa Warehouse Plan

    July 18, 2025

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

    Our Picks

    Mohave County May Remove Data Centers as Economic Development Goal

    July 23, 2025

    Yuma P&Z Recommends Multifamily General Plan Amendment

    July 23, 2025

    Ariz. Construction Gained 600 Jobs in June

    July 22, 2025

    Yavapai Board Enables Bid Process for Cornville Road Roundabout

    July 22, 2025
    Stay In Touch
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube
    Don't Miss
    Economic Development

    Mohave County May Remove Data Centers as Economic Development Goal

    July 23, 20250

    By Roland Murphy for AZBEX By the time you read this column, Mohave County may…

    Yuma P&Z Recommends Multifamily General Plan Amendment

    July 23, 2025

    Ariz. Construction Gained 600 Jobs in June

    July 22, 2025

    Yavapai Board Enables Bid Process for Cornville Road Roundabout

    July 22, 2025

    BEX serves architecture, engineering and construction firms as well as all the ancillary product and service categories that market to them. These include manufacturing representatives, public agencies and private real estate organizations, specialty subcontractors and services providers related to our industry.

    Our Picks

    Mohave County May Remove Data Centers as Economic Development Goal

    July 23, 2025

    Yuma P&Z Recommends Multifamily General Plan Amendment

    July 23, 2025

    Ariz. Construction Gained 600 Jobs in June

    July 22, 2025
    Contact Us

    Phone: 480-709-4190
    Address: P.O. Box 12196 Tempe, AZ 85284
    Email: sales@azbex.com

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.