ADOT Opening Additional 2021-2025 Plan
Source: Arizona Department of Transportation The Arizona Department of Transportation will open an additional comment period for the revised 2021-2025 Tentative Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program on Friday, September 18th. The additional comment period will extend through Tuesday, October 27th. The State Transportation Board will receive the newly revised Tentative Program during its monthly meeting on September 18th. Earlier this year, ADOT conducted its traditional process for […]
Gilbert Surf Park Delayed Again
By Cecilia Chan for Gilbert Sun News A much-ballyhooed 25-acre water park in Gilbert touting technology that can create ocean waves for surfing in the desert is delayed yet again – this time until 2022. The Strand@Gilbert in February 2019 inked a deal with Gilbert to build the $60M project on town-owned land near Queen Creek and Higley roads, […]
Dollar Stores Show E-commerce Resilience
By Les Shaver for GlobeSt.com While many CRE sectors and product types have floundered after COVID-19 hit, one industry has continued to flourish. In the second quarter, cap rates for dollar stores fell a 12-basis point decrease when compared to the prior year, according to The Boulder Group. There are some long-term concerns for the sector, most notably […]
Ariz. Headed for Faster Recovery
By Victoria Harker for Chamber Business News Arizona is positioned for a faster economic recovery than the rest of the nation, and with some strategic moves on the part of state policymakers and citizens, it should jump back to a leading spot within next year or so, according to local economists. “We have the chance for this […]
Lessons Learned from a Land Use Lifesaver
By Adam Baugh for Withey Morris PLC At the beginning of COVID, when the world suddenly halted in March, my children and I decided to build a bike shed. It was a great time bonding with my daughters, but the end product looked nothing like the fancy shed we intended. Corners weren’t square, hinges didn’t close evenly, and […]
Construction Contracts in the COVID Era
By David A. Blake for GlobeSt.com Those entering into new construction contracts should include custom language addressing the parties’ respective rights and responsibilities related to COVID-19. Many articles and webinars have focused on how traditional contract clauses in existing contracts may respond to COVID-19 issues. The fit is not always clear. Some guesswork is involved and creativity is called upon […]
ADOT Announces Disparity Study Finalization
Source: Arizona Department of Transportation The Arizona Department of Transportation has finalized the Disparity Study report and the Federal Highway Administration Overall Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Goal and Methodology for federal fiscal years 2021-2022. Based on the results of the Disparity Study, which took into consideration comments and input from the public, ADOT will adopt a 12.89 percent DBE goal for federal fiscal years 2021 […]
Project Wants Mesa to Become ‘Surf City’
By Jim Walsh for East Valley Tribune A developer already has “Surf Mesa’’ tee-shirts printed, hoping that his proposed two-acre “surf lagoon” turns into a regional attraction near Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport. But while the lagoon is the centerpiece of Cannon Beach, it also includes 475KSF of commercial space, a gym, a climbing wall, a go-cart track, a 65-foot […]
Uncertainty Forces Economic Developers to Pivot
By Rebekah Morris for AZBEX The diversity of East Valley cities was on full display at the August 12th, 2020 Leading Market Series discussion hosted by BEX. Economic development directors from the cities of Mesa and Scottsdale, along with the Town of Queen Creek, identified their unique challenges and goals in bringing in new employers to their municipality, especially during a time when […]
NAIOP Survey Finds CRE Deals Increasing
Source: AZ Big Media In the fourth monthly NAIOP survey measuring the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the commercial real estate industry, respondents say that deal activity is improving across most major sectors of the industry, but more now expect impacts from the crisis to affect their businesses for an additional 12-18 months. “July continued a trend of positive […]