The Dealmaker: 3/9/2017

Study: Pinal replaces Maricopa as county with best mortgage market. “SmartAsset… compared the state’s 15 counties… by calculating four factors: overall borrowing costs, rate of securing a mortgage, property taxes and annual mortgage payments.” Pinal Central has the results, including where Pinal ranks among other counties across the country. (The report also maps out the rankings for each county in Arizona. Sure, it’s no fancy, high-tech “heat map,” but it gets the job done.) http://bit.ly/2m4eXjD

PhoenixMart’s shell to be completed by end of month. “Construction crews have been working continuously… erecting walls and installing underground utility connections…. Over the next six quarters, the company is projecting to construct exterior perimeter walls for the main PhoenixMart building, continue infrastructure improvements and work on parking and landscaping finishes.” And “[i]f the project stays on this track,” what are AZSourcing’s “hopes” for an opening date? Find out and get further details on the construction progress, at Pinal Central. http://bit.ly/2njtj0x

Business leaders join to solve Westworld of Scottsdale power line predicament. (Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents the property owners seeking to bury the power lines.) “Arizona Public Service announced about two years ago it was examining a route for a new 69-kilovolt electrical power line… The study area raised the eyebrows of tourism aficionados, real estate developers and local property owners who feared power lines running with the skyline of WestWorld of Scottsdale… could tarnish the luster of the event hub while bringing down adjacent property values.” See the latest developments in Scottsdale Independent. http://bit.ly/2lI7iMB

Goldwater Institute, Angel’s Trumpet suing Phoenix over GPLET deal on apartment tower. “The project… is a proposed $36 million, micro-housing, 19-story apartment tower called The Derby Roosevelt Row. Last March, the Phoenix City Council approved the GPLET deal with the project’s developer Amstar/McKinley… The GPLET deal is projected to save the developers $8 million over 25 years.” What’s behind Goldwater’s challenge? An Institute attorney sheds some light, in Phoenix Business Journal. http://bit.ly/2m7cPs7

Positive difference defines city’s growth, future, says Glendale mayor.  In his recent state of the city address, [Mayor Jerry] “Weiers focused… on five areas of success: fiscal responsibility, economic development, public safety, quality of life and veteran services.” One major highlight from the address?  According to coverage in Glendale Star, “the West Valley will grow at nearly twice the rate of the East Valley and Phoenix over the next 35 years.” Much more from the mayor’s address here: http://bit.ly/2n4fmaI

Southwest Airlines making $40 million investment in Sky Harbor. “The… airline announced… it will occupy a new [‘eight-gate’] concourse at the airport’s Terminal 4 and will invest more than $40 million to expand its maintenance facility….” Further details, including when we can expect to hear: DING! “You’re free to move about the new concourse”  — at Phoenix Business Journal. http://bit.ly/2mFxM0i

Average loan size for purchase applications hits all-time high. “MBA’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey… for the week ending March 3… showed that the average loan size for purchase applications was $313,300. That’s the highest that figure has been during any week since the MBA began conducting its weekly application survey in 1990.” What about the overall picture for mortgage apps and figures for REFI’s, ARM’s, and “Veteran Affairs’ share”? Any other new highs? Find out in HousingWire. http://bit.ly/2m79Uj4

Jim Melikian is True West’s “Best Western History Collector” of the year. “Normally, the 61-year-old Arizona businessman scoured auction catalogs for items he’s been collecting since he was a teen — religious artifacts from around the world, pieces of Latin-American and black history, precious items from the life of Muhammad Ali…. Yet here he was, in June 2016, salivating through 124 pages of the Legends of the West catalog by Heritage Auctions, and a whole new world of possibilities was opening up to him.” Pretty cool profile of Jim — his collecting habit and details of his rare Tombstone find — inTrue West Magazine. http://bit.ly/2mLk1xJ

Cameron’s $5M + deals of the day – http://bit.ly/2mnpTdZ