SAMM Awards will celebrate Valley’s homebuilding industry. (The celebration isn’t until Nov. 8, but both Rose Law Group founder & president Jordan Rose and real estate consultant Jim Belfiore are already pumped up about it!) “The SAMM Awards, which stands for Builder Sales, Advertising, Marketing and Merchandising, is being described as the Oscars of the Valley’s homebuilding/real estate industry.” Jim Belfiore: “[T]he SAMM Awards offer us an opportunity to gather and recognize those builders innovating and leading us into the future.” Jordan Rose: “We live in the Silicon Valley of the homebuilding industry and it is exciting to be in Arizona at ground zero for homebuilder innovation!” AZ Business Magazine. http://bit.ly/2vxKC57
Building Barometer: Are developers ready for a slowdown? “[A]lthough development continues to thrive in some markets, particularly urban core locations [like Phoenix], signs of a slowdown are unmistakable.” Multi-Housing News examines some of the “principal forces” pressuring developers and lenders to become “more selective as the cycle matures.” http://bit.ly/2vCqn4t
CHEW ON THIS – Wrigley Mansion gets a $1 million summer refresh.Mansion owner Jamie Hormel: “We’ve worked tirelessly to make sure that we’re preserving what everyone loves about the Mansion while modernizing it and making it as comfortable and accommodating as possible for future generations.” Experience AZ has a rundown of the “extensive” renos and redesigns which are expected “to wrap sometime in 2018.” http://bit.ly/2vx5klo
Deep Well Ranch backers ask for oversight flexibility. “As planners envision it, the new Deep Well Ranch master plan would have a level of regulatory flexibility that they say would allow for a cohesive community. But members of the Prescott [P&Z]… worry… that [one particular ‘paragraph in the master plan’s regulatory framework section’] would give the new 1,800-acre project… too much autonomy from the city.” The Daily Courier. http://bit.ly/2uD02Gc
Several residential developments reach final takedown phase this month. “The Metro Tucson Housing Market continues to show signs of possibly its best year since 2008, [a]s home builders [Pulte, D.R. Horton, KB] exercise options earlier than scheduled to keep up with demand in Northwest Tucson and get creative with infill projects at the same time.” Real Estate Daily News. http://bit.ly/2uHslza
Southside student projects forcing out locals. According to one local, the “quality of life [on Fountaine St. in Flagstaff’s Southside] has been ruined by multi-story rental projects…” However, Arizona Daily Sun reports that “the owner of Hope Construction, which is building most of the new apartments… had not received any other complaints about his projects in that neighborhood.” David Carpenter: “It’s been 15 to 17 years of ‘thank yous’, ‘attaboys,’ and awards for energy efficiency and my buildings.” http://bit.ly/2vVwWSp
Berkshire Hathaway sells most expensive home in Sedona. “[S]ales executives with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Arizona Properties… have completed the most expensive home sale in Sedona in the past 10 years. The team sold 140 Hidden Meadow Drive in Sedona’s exclusive Seven Canyons neighborhood for $5 million.” Much more on the sale of the 9,000+ sq. ft. home in AZ Business Magazine. http://bit.ly/2wXDZa5
“Disneyland meets motor racing”: $178M Phoenix Raceway modernization project zooms to 2018 finish line. (Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents Phoenix International Raceway.) “[N]ew grandstands with individual seating… the addition of four escalators and five elevators. and new souvenir and guest services areas … 19 new suites and 32 renovated suites all equipped with free Wi-Fi… The new Nascar garages will be open for people to see teams working on the cars…” And that’s not all. Check out the renderings and shots of some of the construction progress at PBJ. http://bit.ly/2w6Iu4Y
Maricopa looks at appealing court decision, Apex ‘100% committed.’ (Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents APEX Motor Club.) “Wednesday, [a Pinal County Court] ruled the City’s action in approving a conditional use permit for Apex was… subject to referendum.” But, as this piece from inMaricopa reports, neither Apex nor the City was “overly discouraged. Mayor Christian Price said the city… will consider every legal option available… Apex Vice President Matt Williams said… they are prepared to take the appropriate legal actions that will ensure the success of the project,” and that “this ruling has not swayed them in the slightest.” http://bit.ly/2w71YWU
Costs up, vacancies incorrect, market strong. AZBEX recaps the Arizona Association for Economic Development’s August luncheon, featuring “Mark Singerman, VP and Regional Director for Rockefeller Group, [who] took the lectern to share his insights on the area’s Office, Multifamily and Industrial CRE markets.” Singerman’s big “game changer”? The South Mountain Freeway, which he says will “shrink the Valley and lead to a genuine blending of the east and west sides more than any other project ever has…” http://bit.ly/2vVoJxF
Prescott’s ‘New’ Entertainment District: How will the designation impact downtown businesses? “Now that downtown Prescott has been designated an entertainment district, what does this mean for businesses in the area? For some, the benefits are direct and imminent.” And even for establishments that have “no plans to benefit directly from the designation” it’s seen as “a plus for the whole area.” One bar owner calls it “awesome for everybody.” The Daily Courier. http://bit.ly/2uDbS3m
Arizona draws more Baby Boomers than every state but Florida. “A couple of new rankings [from SmartAsset and Zumper] show Arizona, and particularly several Valley cities, are the most popular for Baby Boomers to move to after they stop working full time.” See the city rankings at AZCentral, and — other than property taxes — find out what else helping draw so many Boomers to the state. (It’s different than what Boomers’ parents wanted at 60.) http://bit.ly/2wJkYc9
A labor shortage for Ariz. infra. projects? “From blanket statements of doom and gloom to more moderate projections and cautionary visions of price increases and schedule delays, it’s hard to tell what the real impact [of the labor shortage] is to local projects.” AZBEX checks in with some of the “largest public owners and general contractors” for their “thoughts on the matter.” –> http://bit.ly/2vCftMk
Paradise district middle school campus delayed. “Paradise Schools… planned to open the year with expansions to Paradise Honors High School and a new junior high campus on the same site. Delays to the start of construction set parts of the project back, and when school started Monday only the high school expansion was finished. However… the setback has not diminished the interest that drove the Surprise-based charter school district’s decision to expand in the first place.” YourWestValley. http://bit.ly/2uHHfFE
Cameron’s $5M + deals of the day – http://bit.ly/2vxzu8a
Agreement might be near on development water for Pinal agricultural land. “The Pinal Local Water Group developed a draft proposal for a state rule change for extinguishment credits and groundwater allowance in the AMA, which encompasses roughly 4,000 square miles in central Arizona… Under state law, farmers can continue to grow crops as long as they have water, but a rule that has caused alarm would have them see water credits for future development reduced the longer they farm. Critics have said that might cause them to sell their land sooner rather than later.” PinalCentral. http://bit.ly/2vxCjWE
U.S. lawsuit over Arizona farmworkers shines light on Visa program. “For the last two seasons, G Farms has depended on legal migrant workers to harvest potatoes, onions and watermelons growing in its fields on the outskirts of Phoenix. Now the farm is bearing different fruit: a first-of-its-kind federal lawsuit that federal officials and immigration activists say exemplifies the pitfalls of the nation’s agricultural visa program — as Congress proposes changes to it.” The Wall Street Journal. http://bit.ly/2wJDMIe
Regent says maintaining in-state tuition rate for ‘Dreamers’ is wrong. “Regent Jay Heiler said his [Arizona Board of Regents] colleagues are acting in good faith in deciding to keep the tuition policy in place for now… But Heiler is distancing himself from a letter sent Thursday to the Attorney General’s Office by board President Eileen Klein… Klein said the tuition policy for those in the federal [DACA] program is justified and will remain.” By Capitol Media Services’ Howard Fischer in Arizona Capitol Times. http://bit.ly/2vVrpuZ
Voucher lawyers file suit to block referendum effort. “The lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court contends that some of the people who circulated petitions to force a public vote [on universal school vouchers] did not comply with state elections law. That includes whether they registered as paid circulators and whether they were felons who are not permitted to circulate petitions. If a judge agrees, that could disqualify all the signatures they gathered.” By Howard Fischer in Arizona Capitol Times. http://bit.ly/2wXOY31
Friends across barbed wire and politics. NBC News correspondent Tom Brokaw writes of the “lifelong friendship of common interests and shared values” between conservative Republican and former Wyoming senator, Alan Simpson, and Norman Mineta, a “liberal Democrat, [who] was elected to the House and became secretary of transportation under President George W. Bush.” The two met as kids in 1942 — “at Heart Mountain, a barren slice of north-central Wyoming where 10,000 Japanese-Americans lived in primitive barracks surrounded by barbed wire, watched over by armed guards.” (In an “Editor’s note” intro, Rose Law Group ReporterSenior Writer/Reporter Phil Riske shares his hope that “things in politics could again reflect such friendships as reported” in Tom Brokaw’s piece.) http://bit.ly/2uHdsx7
Pima County supervisor: ‘I am WHITE — and proud of it!’ “Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller appears to have posted from her personal Facebook account that she is ‘sick and tired of being hit for being white.’… Miller was responding to a Politico article shared by former Tucson mayoral candidate Shaun McClusky that detailed President Trump’s response to the violence [in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday]. (And, as a result of the posting, it probably won’t be long before there’s one other thing Miller is “sick and tired” of: Tremendous blowback.) In Arizona Daily Star. http://bit.ly/2uVEGPF
Newsmaker BONUS: The show begins at 9 pm AET— Arrogant Eastern Time. Senior Reporter/Writer Phil Riske takes issue with the exclusive use of “Eastern Standard Time” [EST] when it comes to television listings for program starts — and he’s got a better idea. In Rose Law Group “Growlery.” http://bit.ly/2vVUMNI
