California developers land $400,000 urban homes near Biltmore, Camelback Road. “Family Development and Presidio Residential Capital have opened the 2-acre Encue. The 46-home development is at 25th Street and Campbell… Prices start in the $400,000s.” More in PBJ. http://bit.ly/2uDzSCF
Phoenix Suns’ Robert Sarver says Coyotes-Suns shared site ‘highly unlikely.’ “In a one-on-one interview [with azcentral sports] Sarver said his focus is on an upgrade of Talking Stick Resort Arena [which] ‘was built for basketball.’” Sarver said building a new arena would have ’maybe made more sense’ four or five years ago when the cost estimate was $450 million to $500 million. The costs now, Sarver said, are ‘significantly higher.’” http://bit.ly/2tL6JRf
Sports arena or big data center campus: See what’s landing on a big, prominent Phoenix parcel. “The Arizona State Land Department has auctioned off an 84.2-acre land parcel… for $23.9 million. The land is at the [S.W.] corner of 40th Street and McDowell… The winning bid was an entity called Phoenix Retail [an arm of a ‘Kansas-based data center company’]. But Phoenix Business Journal reports that “another bidder” was an LLC that is “an arm of the Phoenix Suns and managing partner Robert Sarver.” http://bit.ly/2ues1tY
Downtown Glendale development has many facets to improvements.Economic Development Officer Jessi Pederson: “We are working behind the scenes, and a lot of the work we do is confidential, so while the public may not see things happening, we are really working with council to improve the area.” The Glendale Star brings us up to speed on the “redevelopment and reimagining of the area.” http://bit.ly/2uG5FSK
Six lots in new subdivision in flood zone. “The [Florence] Town Council OK’d a new 75-home subdivision in Sun City Anthem, but also approved a ‘lot hold agreement’ with Pulte Homes not to sell or build on six lots that are currently… vulnerable to a 100-year storm… After FEMA removes the six lots in question from the flood zone, Pulte may ask the town for cancellation of the lot hold agreement.” PinalCentral. http://bit.ly/2uMZnBY
Coolidge moves to court bigger businesses. “The city took its first steps toward that goal [by approving] an ordinance that enables [it] to provide economic incentives… With neighboring cities like Eloy and Casa Grande already adopting similar ordinances, the hope is that these economic incentives will boost Coolidge on the list of growing and attractive Pinal County municipalities.” Details on the new ordinance at PinalCentral. http://bit.ly/2uf9UnC
‘Blighted’ properties to be cleared from Heritage District. “The three properties… are all located just to the east of the Copa Center and Spoons restaurant, which are slated for demolition to make way for the [SR 347] overpass.” As for the owner of the properties, inMaricopa reports that “he is not too worried about the overpass moving in next door.” http://bit.ly/2voitLC
Residents react to Deep Well Ranch plans. “About 50 people turned out at Prescott City Hall… for the second open-house meeting conducted by developers to introduce the Deep Well Ranch multi-use project, which is planned on 1,800 acres along Highway 89 between Prescott and Chino Valley.” And with “10,000 new homes expected to be built,” the message from residents was: “No ‘Cookie-cutter’ homes.” The Daily Courier. http://bit.ly/2gNGqbN
Those looking to live in downtown Tucson feel sticker shock. “A limited inventory of homes for sale in the 85701 ZIP code has pushed prices up over 20 percent from last year. Rental rates in that ZIP code are the highest in the city and 13th highest in the state.” Arizona Daily Star. http://bit.ly/2tjQfA8
Cellular infrastructure construction rules forming in Paradise Valley.“HB 2365 [will allow] wireless carriers… to install, operate and maintain small-cell equipment in city and town rights-of-way… The new law takes effect Tuesday, Aug. 8 and without ‘objective design standards and reasonable stealth and concealment requirements’ municipalities… will have little say-so where cell poles are erected or how they look.” Paradise Valley Independent. http://bit.ly/2vnABFn
ADOT may replace roundabouts with diverging-diamond interchange design. “One of the interchanges would be built on [I-17] and Happy Valley Road. The other two would be built as part of the new South Mountain Freeway now under construction… ADOT officials said the design would create safer driving conditions…” How so? And what exactly is a ‘DDI’ and what does it look like? At AZCentral. http://bit.ly/2vFEFA3
Specialty contractor partnerships’ use of debt and capital. “Specialty contractors structured as partnerships generated aggregate net income of $4.5 billion in 2014, according to the most recent IRS data available… These data are broken out by industry and income tax deductions, allowing us [not “us” here at Dealmaker HQ, but finance wonks over at EyeOnHousing] to compare the use of tax deductions by partnerships across a wide array of sectors.” Tap through for the analysis. http://bit.ly/2tubzY0
Midsummer metrics. “The big gut-check for… builders and developers, at least near-term, is what control each has of its destiny when it comes to supplying this market at prices it can tolerate and at margins a firm can live with and sustain.” And, as the Builder subhead to this “mid-year pulse check” puts it: “Many firms’ challenges are a few enterprises’ opportunity.” http://bit.ly/2udJcds
MBA: Mortgage applications rise 6.4 % over week of July 14th. “On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased by 33% over the previous week.” Head to Builder for a full breakdown of mortgage activity. http://bit.ly/2uDGHnB
Dealmaker BONUS: Pinal courthouse expansion completed to deal with county’s growth. “[P]rojections made [three years ago] indicated the county’s current courthouse… was not big enough to fill future judicial needs.” But will this “$15 million” reno — with an additional “40,000 square feet” — do the trick? PinalCentral: “Since census takers continue to document growth throughout the county, Supervisor Todd House… joked it may not be long before a second courthouse will have to be built.” (Funny stuff.). http://bit.ly/2uGipsJ
Cameron’s $5M + deals of the day – http://bit.ly/2vnwJ7j
McCain diagnosed with brain cancer; family asks for prayers. “A statement from the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix… said [Sen. John McCain] has been diagnosed with a glioblastoma, which the hospital’s information page calls an ‘aggressive type of cancer that can… be very difficult to treat…’” Here’s just a portion of what Meghan McCain posted about her father on Twitter: “The cruelest enemy could not break him. The aggressions of political life could not bend him. So he is meeting this challenge as he has every other… Cancer may affect him in many ways: But it will not make him surrender. Nothing ever has.” More on this in Cronkite News. http://bit.ly/2udCa8I
The Mayo Clinic School of Medicine — Arizona campus launches in Scottsdale. “The Mayo Clinic School of Medicine — Arizona Campus has opened its doors to an inaugural class of 50 first-year medical students. This pursuit by the Mayo Clinic, which has been six years in the making, expands one of the most highly sought-after, affordable medical schools in the country to the Valley of the Sun.” Scottsdale Independent. http://bit.ly/2vnI4Er
Judge moves to halt ‘deceptive practices’ around N.F.L. concussion settlement. “The order was made in response to an article published by The New York Times describing how retired players, who stand to receive up to $5 million in the settlement, are being bombarded with sales pitches from companies promising to help retirees fill out the paperwork to file claims” Or as this latest Times report puts it, “duping former players into signing contracts for unneeded services.” http://bit.ly/2tjEOIM
Judge rejects APS move to get rate ruling before court decision. “A [Maricopa County Superior Court] judge on Wednesday rejected a bid by Arizona Public Service to let the Arizona Corporation Commission vote on the company’s rate hike request before he considers claims by one utility regulator [Bob Burns] that he has a right to question company executives about their political influence over the panel.” Report by Capitol Media Services’ Howard Fischer in PinalCentral. http://bit.ly/2tKOagg
WOMEN’S ISSUES WITH ‘WOMEN’S ISSUES’ – Female mayors want to blow up the term ‘women’s issues.’ “The mayors of Baltimore, Charlotte and Salt Lake City… all happen to be female — and are tired of having some of their cities’ most thorny issues singled out as ‘women’s issues.’” This along with other “takeaways” from the latest “Women Rule podcast” in POLITICO. http://bit.ly/2uGin4a
Newsmaker BONUS: Here’s how many people came to Arizona in 2016 — and how much they spent. “Forty-three million domestic and international overnight visitors came to Arizona last year, and spent $21.2 billion… Pinal County, in particular, had a 14.9 percent increase in travel-generated earnings and 13.8 percent increase in employment as well.” For a complete breakdown of the Arizona Office of Tourism data, click to Steven Totten’s report at PBJ. http://bit.ly/2vGg6Do
