The most overvalued housing markets in America; Real estate consultant Jim Belfiore weighs in on Phoenix metro. “This is the first of a two-part [Forbes] story on the metropolitan areas offering the best and worst value for home buyers… Fitch deems 27% of the 412 housing markets it tracks overvalued.” (Phoenix is among the top 5 overvalued.) Jim Belfiore: “Home prices are rising because demand presently outstrips supply. Coincidentally, incomes are expected to rise more significantly in the near future because of a lack of workers. Phoenix-area prices are likely to continue to expand with demand over the next few years.” http://bit.ly/2gXgafu
More tall buildings, bowling alley planned for downtown Scottsdale.“Livewire… is expected to re-open in December as a Mexican restaurant and bowling alley.” (Too bad “Fiesta Bowl” is already taken.) “Deco Communities proposes building two 10-story apartment towers near Scottsdale Fashion Square… The Winfield Hotel and Residences is proposed as a nine-story luxury hotel and condo project [at 4221 N. Scottsdale Road].” AZCentral has details and renderings on all three. http://bit.ly/2gXAeyd
P&Z recommends rezone to allow agritainment venue at historic Sossaman Farms. “The Sossaman family… submitted the application to transform a portion of the original Sossaman family homestead into an interactive, educational and sustainable agritainment venue…. The rezone… implements [Queen Creek’s] economic development goal No. 1 to support and expand the town’s agritainment district…” Queen Creek Independent has more on the “Heritage Corner” venue, which it describes as “similar to Queen Creek Olive Mill and Schnepf Farms.” http://bit.ly/2vT5H76
Records give insight into Dreamport Villages. (Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents the developers of Dreamport Villages.) “Following a public records request… 150 pages of records were released… [which] provid[ed] some background on the site, located in the southern part of Casa Grande, on both sides of Interstate 8.” Check out the planned features and attractions revealed in those pages, at Casa Grande Dispatch. http://bit.ly/2utskzD
Paradise Valley golf course earns prestigious award. “The Short Course at Mountain Shadows was named the first-place winner in the Public Course category at the Golf Inc.’s Renovation of the Year.” With “a $3.2 million budget” to work with, “Architect Forrest Richardson was forced to get creative on a 33-acre footprint to produce 18 interesting par-3 holes of golf routed through a mixed-use development that includes 42 condos, 106 villa residential units and a 183-room resort property.” KTAR. http://bit.ly/2vTlqTP
[EDITORIAL] New transportation tax. (Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents a coalition of property and business owners throughout Pinal County working to bring new transportation infrastructure to the county.) Stating that “officials who… support it are making a convincing argument,” PinalCentral’seditorial board looks at the “new half-cent sales tax for road construction that will come before voters in a special November election.” http://bit.ly/2usZDTv
Sales tax to acquire open space in Flagstaff proposed. “A group of citizens, calling themselves the ‘Yes on Parks’ committee have proposed a one-eighth-cent sales tax, from which revenues would be placed into a fund dedicated to pay for capital projects to acquire and protect open space, acquire, develop and maintain parks, recreation facilities, sports facilities and trail systems.” Arizona Daily Sun. http://bit.ly/2tUBQtO
And you thought Tucson had turned the economic corner. Back in May of 2016, Arizona Daily Star columnist Tim Steller wrote a piece titled “Be careful — economic optimism is in Tucson’s air.” In it, he pointed to “economic-development wins as well as findings by UA economist George Hammond that the local economy was growing faster than expected.” In this latest piece, he rethinks that assessment, as “perception has run into a wall called reality.” http://bit.ly/2uqgecj
Prescott candidates: Economic development. “Prescott has renewed its push for economic development — especially for high-tech companies that could benefit from the proximity to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University… Candidates running for Prescott Mayor and City Council weighed in recently on how important they think economic-development efforts are for the community.” In The Daily Courier. http://bit.ly/2gXkjQB
[IN-DEPTH] Destroyed Phoenix neighborhood’s ‘last standing icon’ creates rift among groups seeking rebirth. “The city destroyed the neighborhood [surrounding the Sacred Heart Church] roughly 30 years ago by buying land and relocating thousands of residents to make way for airport expansion… Earlier this month, Phoenix finally took a major step to redevelop the area [near 16th & Buckeye].” This AZCentral report looks at how the vacant church “now finds itself at the crossroads of politics, religion and community in some of Phoenix’s earliest Latino barrios.” http://bit.ly/2vTdX7g
Dealmaker BONUS: How hot is Las Vegas housing? Report calls gains ‘unsustainable. “[P]rices are about 15 percent overvalued in Southern Nevada, having steadily climbed since late 2013…” Fitch managing director Grant Bailey: “Las Vegas ‘has rebounded dramatically from the financial crisis, so much so that its upward momentum has carried it too far and home prices have now overshot.’” More on Fitch Ratings report for Vegas in Las Vegas Review-Journal. http://bit.ly/2gXOZ3V
Cameron’s $5M + deals of the day – http://bit.ly/2gXvzMT
As a supplement to the Dealmaker, we thought you might enjoy these articles!
How Uber’s hard-charging corporate culture left employees drained.“[Y]ears of putting out fires 24/7, partying hard and working harder, and contending with volatile managers have taken a toll on the mental health of the white-collar workers who were instrumental to building the Uber empire.” BuzzFeed. http://bit.ly/2uRyP1w
Brnovich threatens regents with suit over ‘dreamer’ policy. “Attorney General Mark Brnovich wants members of the Board of Regents to explain why they think they can let ‘dreamers’ pay the same tuition as other Arizona residents. In a letter obtained by Capitol Media Services, Michael Bailey, Brnovich’s chief deputy, told regents President Eileen Klein that his office is considering what legal action to take against the board for a policy that it considers illegal.” By Howard Fischer in Arizona Capitol Times. http://bit.ly/2v0CI54
1.4 million weigh in on administration’s review of national monuments.“The comments came in response to President Donald Trump’s order that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke review the use of the Antiquities Act to create national monuments in recent decades… But some activists worry that, despite the outpouring of comments on the proposal, administration officials may already have their minds made up.” Cronkite News. http://bit.ly/2gXAhdj
Arizona official: EPA rule puts ‘extraordinarily high’ burden on mines.“The proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule would require companies in certain industries, including hardrock mining, to demonstrate that they have funds for any cleanup of a hazardous material release… Bret Parke, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, told a House Natural Resources subcommittee that [this] would be an ‘extraordinarily high’ economic burden on Arizona mine operators, who could be required to keep hundreds of millions of dollars of cash on hand.” Cronkite News. http://bit.ly/2tTVsyf
Clean Elections allows candidates to assign campaign funds for ‘vague’ purposes. “The rule allows Clean Elections candidates… to make payments to political parties for ‘vague items’… such as ‘consulting’ and undefined ‘services rendered.’” Arizona Speaker of the House J.D. Mesnard: “You’d be hard-pressed to find many voters who believe that political parties are entitled to public money, yet that’s essentially what the Clean Elections Commission just allowed.” More from this Arizona Daily Independent report in Rose Law Group Reporter. http://bit.ly/2vCoVyS
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