Alisse Caton joins Rose Law Group Planning and Project Management team. Alisse Caton, formerly of LVA Urban Design Studio, “will be helping the team [led by Director Chris Webb] with projects from beginning to end. She will work for developers, real estate investment groups and homebuilders to navigate and comprehend developmental procedures.” Rose Law Group president and founder Jordan Rose extols Alisse’s “immense knowledge,” while Alisse looks ahead to working with Rose Law Group and the “top clients in our industry” — at Scottsdale Independent. http://bit.ly/2BGA8jG
Breaking News: Electric semi-truck maker could earn millions in incentives from Arizona – http://bit.ly/2rT3w6x
Meritage Homes buys 197 Goodyear lots for $7.3M. “The new community in Palm Valley will include (86) 60’x120’ lots and (111) 36’x106’ lots with a preliminary plat already approved.” While this report in AZRE is a bit skimpy as far as details go, it does provide contact info for reps at Land Advisors, for those who may want to learn more about “this notable transaction.” http://bit.ly/2DPX1a1
HPI IS BLIMPIN’ – Case Shiller Index up 6.2% in November. S&P Dow Jones Indices managing director David M. Blitzer: “Home prices continue to rise three times faster than the rate of inflation… Without more supply, home prices may continue to substantially outpace inflation.” Get price-appreciation figures, and see how Phoenix and other metros fared in the 20-City composite, in Builder. http://bit.ly/2nqXCFf
Southwest offers opportunities for single-family rental investors. “With the continuing rise in home prices nationwide, there are still plenty of opportunities… for the shrewd investor.” Some “hidden gems” spotlighted in HouseCanary’s Rental Investment Index include “certain hyper-local areas… in and around Phoenix” and Tucson — “where rental investors can find homes that will generate higher-than-average rental yields.” Highlights from the HouseCanary Index along with a link to the full report in DSnews. http://bit.ly/2nt2AjG
BUCKEYE: LOOKIN’ LIKE A BILLION BUCKS – Company announces $1B plan to build hydrogen-electric trucks in Arizona. “Utah-based Nikola Motor Company said it had selected Buckeye as the home for its new [500-acre] plant that was expected to bring in more than $1 billion in capital investment to the region by 2024.” KTAR. http://bit.ly/2DORqwB
3 major CRE sectors show continued strength. “Cushman & Wakefield last week issued their Q4 2017 Metro Phoenix MarketBeat reports for Industrial, Office and Retail, noting high degrees of activity across all three sectors.” TEASERS: S.W. Phoenix had the highest occupancy growth; office vacancy rate was the lowest, post-Recession; retail ended in good shape (surprisingly!); San Tan Pavilions led in retail construction. Full MarketBeat highlights at AZBEX. http://bit.ly/2BIJcV2
Experts weigh in on state of development. “Mark Detmer, managing director of JLL; Chris Anderson, managing director of Hines Development; Rick Butler, principal of Butler Design Group; and Paul Engler, senior VP of Alliance Bank” — these “commercial real estate and development leaders gave their predictions for what lies ahead in 2018 at Valley Partnership’s Friday Morning Breakfast…” Coverage of the event at AZBEX. http://bit.ly/2DP0cLc
Elliott Pollack says economy looks ‘real good.’ What’s this? A hump day edition of The Monday Morning Quarterback? Not quite. The “well-respected economist” and CEO of Elliott D. Pollack & Company left the football moniker on the bench for a recent presentation on the “current economic status from a national, state, and local level.” And with an economy now into “its 102nd month of continuous growth” — it just keeps going and going — the presentation before “Lambda Alpha International members at the Arizona Country Club” was aptly titled “Tax cuts and the Energizer Bunny economy.” Details at AZRE. http://bit.ly/2DPJfVc
The opioid crisis: The construction industry’s simmering threat. “The construction industry is no stranger to the devastating effects of opioid abuse… Despite the industry’s reluctance to talk openly about it, opioid abuse is costing firms money and threatening lives. Opening the conversation could be the first step to combating the problem.” ConstructionDIVE. http://bit.ly/2nuV7AW
UNRINGING THE BELLS – The Carillons will soon be gone. YourValleyreports that “one of the first senior living communities in Sun City,” The Carillons, (aka tower bells) is set to be “demolished to make way” for an “expansion” of another nearby “senior living community,” Royal Oaks campus, “as part of a 20-year master plan.” http://bit.ly/2BHzUc7
[OPINION] Let’s make a deal on the North American Free Trade Agreement. “[President Trump] hates NAFTA and loves walls… The business community wants a permanent solution for Dreamers, a skills-based immigration system with visa programs that meet the country’s labor needs and a NAFTA that aligns with today’s economy.” Cautioning that the “clock is ticking,” President and CEO of Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Glenn Hamer, urges all sides to come together ASAP to “strike a deal” that will “modernize NAFTA” and “lock in a decade or more of 3 percent economic growth or better.” In Apache Junction Independent. http://bit.ly/2FylfSB
Softwood lumber prices climb to record highs. “Largely as the result of the tariffs imposed by the U.S. Commerce Department — and related negotiations among the U.S., Canada and Mexico grinding to a halt — prices for softwood lumber imports have skyrocketed 30% since Hurricane Harvey hit last summer.” NAHB’s tax and trade policy director, David Logan: “This was the highest week-end futures price we have on record, dating back to January 1995…” More in NAHBNow. http://bit.ly/2E00Xod
Phoenix mayoral candidate Moses Sanchez aims to shake up status quo.“He teaches at South Mountain Community College, owns a digital marketing company, is a senior enlisted Navy serviceman, and helps take care of his grandchildren.” Now, Moses Sanchez can add running for mayor to his “already busy life” — his sights set on stirring things up. “I’m frustrated like a lot of Phoenix families with the state of our city,’ Sanchez said. ‘We haven’t had a mayor come from outside of City Hall in over three decades now.’ ” More in Downtown Devil. http://bit.ly/2DPNBeO
Cameron’s $5M + deals of the day – http://bit.ly/2nsW0K8
[OPINION] Good riddance to Chief Wahoo. “Yahoo! Wahoo! It’s fantastic that Wahoo is gone.” Bert Stratton — a New York Times contributor and author of the forthcoming essay collection Klezmer Guy: Real Music and Real Estate; UNCLE to Jordan Rose and Court Rich, and Cleveland native and Indians baseball fan — explains why he’s not sad at all to see the Wahoo logo go. –> http://bit.ly/2noTJjN
SOTU: Republicans: a positive message; Democrats: a speech shy on details. Last night, President Donald Trump delivered his “first official State of the Union address to Congress.” Cronkite News has a recap of the “sweeping hour-and-20-minute speech” and reactions to it from Arizona lawmakers, who “found little to agree on.” (RELATED: “Gosar call to arrest ‘illegal immigrants’ at Trump speech causes stir.”) Read both reports in Rose Law Group Reporter. http://bit.ly/2DRXb0I
Full text of Trump’s State of the Union address. “The prepared remarks as released by the White House” — and Axios has all “6045 words.” –> http://bit.ly/2FwkNEC
Judge rules voters can have the last word on school vouchers. “A judge has refused to block voters from getting the last word on whether they want to expand a system of vouchers that uses public funds to send children to private and parochial schools.” And there are rejections aplenty in the “six-page ruling” handed down by “Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Margaret Mahoney.” However, Capitol Media Services Howard Fischer reports in Arizona Capitol Times that voucher supporters are undaunted, as they have “vowed an appeal.” http://bit.ly/2npFXNT
Senate bill addresses suicide crisis among schoolchildren in Arizona.“More than four times as many people die by suicide than by homicide and more people died by suicide in Arizona last year than by opioid overdose… In order to address this epidemic, a group of Arizona lawmakers have introduced a bill that would require officials who work with grades six through 12 at state public and charter schools to undergo suicide prevention training.” KTAR. http://bit.ly/2BHdGqr
