Maracay Homes closes on 91 homesites in East Valley. “The parcels, [38 at Highland Vistas in Queen Creek and 53 at Eastmark in Mesa], will be developed into new, single-family home neighborhoods scheduled to open in late 2018.” AzBigMedia has further deal and development details, including Maracay Homes’ land acquisition and development VP Jason Weber on how the East Valley location “hits the mark on all levels.” http://bit.ly/2z2Rv12
Richmond American opens Phoenix neighborhood. “The community [near West Broadway and South 81st Ave.] offers a collection of new homes with up to five bedrooms and approximately 2,980 square feet, priced from the low $200,000s.” KEY FEATURE: Four of nine floor plans to chose from include RV garages. Tap through to take a look, in Builder. http://bit.ly/2zLV20S
East Mesa adding hotel, apartments for growing population. “With Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and growing technology and health-care industries, East Mesa has an ever-increasing need for accommodations…” Enter these new east-side developments: A 98,000 sq. ft. Residence Inn by Marriott (opening in Sept.), and the “luxury apartment complex” Aviva (opening in Jan.). Details on both in East Valley Tribune. http://bit.ly/2yHiqPG
After 3 months of declines, U.S. home sales uptick in September. “[B]ut ongoing supply shortages and recent hurricanes muted overall activity and caused sales to fall back on an annual basis.” Get national figures along with the Regional Breakdown; plus, check out what NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun has to say about the dearth of listings and “fast-rising prices” — in World Property Journal. http://bit.ly/2zMJzy2
A look ahead at ‘entry-level 55+’. “As 55+ new residential marketing bifurcates between high-margin, well-heeled residents and ‘the rest,’ ” Builder’s John McManus “sense[s] a very strong market opportunity for developers, designers, engineers, and builders, who can model a profitable higher-volume play for “the rest.’ ” http://bit.ly/2zMYfxpUsing model condo units to sell a “luxury lifestyle.” “Luxury condo developers have turned their attention toward careful model unit staging in order to stand out in a competitive market, according to The Wall Street Journal…” Although this is Subscriber Content in WSJ, you can get a pretty good sneak peek in Builder –> http://bit.ly/2yG6Nbr
VINYL RULES! (BUT IS ROCK DEAD?) – Vinyl is the most widely used primary exterior on new homes. “[V]inyl (including vinyl-covered aluminum) was the most common primary exterior wall material on new single-family homes started in 2016 nationwide (27.2 percent).” At the other end of the exterior wall-material spectrum, rock and stone “accounted for only 1.3 percent.” If your money was on stucco, Hardiplank, wood or brick, you can see how they all stack up in Eye On Housing. http://bit.ly/2izLWQY
How Airbnb affects home prices and rents. “Could the use of Airbnb increase home prices and rental rates? A new, not-yet-published working paper suggests the popular home-sharing service might do just that.” The Wall Street Journal looks at the findings from the study and talks with one of its authors, Edward Kung, an assistant professor of economics at UCLA. (NOT, we repeat, NOT Subscriber Content!) http://bit.ly/2yNXXYW
Appeals panel reacts tepidly to anti-freeway arguments. “A panel of judges from the U.S. District Court for the Ninth Circuit finally heard arguments Oct. 19 in the South Mountain Freeway case… But [the arguments made by freeway opponents] appeared to draw little sympathy…” Here’s just a sampling of what came down from the bench: “You want the court to substitute its judgement (sic) for that of the [highway planners]”… “[Wouldn’t constructing the freeway 54 miles away from its current path be] too far south?”…“Seriously, you’re arguments are sorta nuts”…. “Who dressed you today?”… Totally KIDDING on those last two. But you can find much more (actual) Ninth-Circuit negativity for anti-freeway folks at AFN. http://bit.ly/2yJAy8P
[EDITORIAL] Our View: If ADOT can’t fix interstates, let locals try. “With the interstates crumbling and state funds frozen,” Arizona Daily Sun editorial board “urge[s] local elected leaders to put authorization of a county gas tax election on their legislative wish list for the coming session.” http://bit.ly/2iwTlAi
The space between us. “What’s in an alley? Would that which we call an alley by any other name smell as putrid? And collect old mattresses, grow weeds as tall as a child, and provide dark corners for shady figures to lurk in our cultural consciousness?… Alleyways have been part of Phoenix’s urban design since the beginning, but they’ve gotten a bad rap along the way. What does the future hold for these dusty passageways?” Phoenix Magazine. http://bit.ly/2gztDXB
Dealmaker BONUS: The Adams Family. “As the soaring rooftop sign atop the Hotel Adams flickered to life one evening in the 1950s, four letters malfunctioned and remained dark. The crimson neon spelled out, ‘HOT DAM.’ The phrase sums up the love affair between Arizona and three iterations of the hotel, which has provided upscale hospitality for more than 120 years at the northeast corner of Central Avenue and Adams Street.” Phoenix Magazine. http://bit.ly/2zzTVkc
As a supplement to the Dealmaker, we thought you might enjoy these articles!
Supersized family farms are gobbling up American agriculture. The Wall Street Journal goes “inside an immense farm operation in Kansas,” just one among an increasing number of “U.S. growers” that are “swallowing up acreage to survive a harsh agricultural downturn,” while “squeezing smaller operations and transforming America’s rural economy.” (Subscriber Content). http://bit.ly/2yGh7Av
Amazon says 238 places want to host its new headquarters. “New York, Boston, Atlanta, Nashville, Tenn., and Austin, Texas, have said they applied for the new corporate site. The more unexpected bidders included Puerto Rico, which was devastated by a hurricane last month, and several locations in Mexico and Canada.” The Wall Street Journal (Subscriber Content). http://bit.ly/2z4DHmP
TAKING A STAB AT IT – Tax reform boils down to knife fight, says Arizona Rep. David Schweikert. “The Republican, who serves on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, said the current tax code ‘was 67,000 pages and we’re… trying to get rid of 30 years of, sort of, deductions and little gimmicks in the tax code that lobbyists have put there, so that becomes a knife fight.’ ” KTAR. http://bit.ly/2yLKb8H
State Board of Education will reconsider new school grading system.“Facing a barrage of questions and criticism, the State Board of Education voted Monday to take another look at its new system for grading schools.The unanimous vote means that some schools which found themselves with preliminary grades of D and F could move up… That, in turn, has financial implications, with those schools eligible for additional state dollars.” By Capitol Media Services’ Howard Fischer at Arizona Capitol Times. http://bit.ly/2ldswlv
[OP-ED] Our Turn: From plastic bags to puppies, local control is under assault. AZCentral editorial board looks at “preemption — the process of using state laws to strip away control from local municipalities” — and comes down hard on state legislators who use it to “wipe out our laws with a pen.” http://bit.ly/2xkPBV8
Goldwater Institute asks U.S. Supreme Court to overrule Santa Clara Pueblo. “The Goldwater Institute [has] asked the High Court to overrule its 1978 decision [in Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez] that severely limited tribal court litigants from obtaining federal court review of civil rights issues that are litigated in tribal court. The [current] case involves an ex-tribal council member, Jessica Tavares, who was banished from her tribe for exercising her right to speak freely against alleged fraud and mismanagement in tribal government.” For an outline of the major issues in the two cases along with the link to Goldwater’s full court brief, tap to Rose Law Group Reporter. http://bit.ly/2xkSghE
The real story about fake news. “Earlier this year, Axios outlined a number of ways fake news creators are becoming more creative in the face of efforts to stamp them out…” Now, Axios is back with “some truths” that slice through all the fake-news “hype.” (Also available from Axios: “Conservative media slump” – A look at how “the biggest names in conservative digital media are seeing big traffic declines.”) http://bit.ly/2y43PJx
|
