The Dealmaker: 2/21/2019

Developers, residents agree to talk over controversial Phoenix highrise as Council defers vote. “After two hours of passionate testimony before Phoenix City Council about whether a $75 million luxury condominium high-rise should be built on the Phoenix Country Club parking lot, the issue has yet to be resolved. If approved, Scottsdale-based Sunbelt Holdings Inc. will develop the 125-unit community.” A recap of yesterday’s hearing in PBJ. (Subscriber Content). http://bit.ly/2VhSz8D  

Medieval Times crowned at topping off ceremony. Officials from Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Cunningham Group Architecture, and Medieval Times were on hand yesterday as final fortification was secured on the 80,000-sq. ft. structure of the newest Medieval Times in Scottsdale. Lord and herald Callan Smith was also there, and he chronicles the festivity with this ‘quill-and-ink’ report in RLGR — digital pics included! So, prithee, go thither, lest you risk suffering the same fate as The Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. http://bit.ly/2tyHrs1

Arizona congratulates itself on Colorado River drought plan, which still isn’t done. Yesterday, Dealmaker had AZCentral’s reportage on how the state “still needs to finish a list of about a dozen water agreements,” which could “take longer than a March 4 deadline.” Today, Phoenix New Times takes a whack at the same news, albeit with a headline that’s a bit snarkier in tone. http://bit.ly/2E55KlZ

Miller blasts Pinal water authority. “[Pinal County Supervisor Steve Miller, R-Casa Grande] is concerned over the record keeping practices of [the Pinal County Water Augmentation Authority] and wants to know why it has banked more than $1 million.” PinalCentral. http://bit.ly/2BL0fZI

Block 23 makes way for mixed-use high-rise. This fresh report on Block 23 from Downtown Phoenix Journal focuses on the “new 67,000-square foot Fry’s grocery store” — the “biggest missing component to downtown” and a crucial part of an overall mix that has the “potential to generate $76 million in net additional sales taxes to the city of Phoenix over 50 years.” http://bit.ly/2Iua0Bj

Developers wanted: Phoenix seeks bids to transform downtown garage. “Phoenix is preparing [RFPs] for redevelopment of the Regency garage on First and Adams.” City CED Director, Christine Mackay, calls the 41,000-sq. ft. parcel “a highly underutilized site” and “right in the epicenter, to drive development downtown.” PBJ(Subscriber Content). http://bit.ly/2E09XaN

Crucial permit suspended again for huge Benson development project.Villages at Vigneto: “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last week suspended the 28,000-home project’s Clean Water Act permit. The move comes less than two weeks after environmentalists filed a lawsuit alleging the Army Corps’ November decision to approve the permit violated the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act.” Arizona Daily Star. http://bit.ly/2BKdOsk

Flagstaff Council denies rezoning for Butler and Sawmill student housing project. “The development, which had been proposed by the Houston-based McGrath Real Estate Partners, would have held 268 units and more than 800 beds.” More on what’s being described as “a warning to future developers,” in Arizona Daily Sun. http://bit.ly/2U7bXoF

Developer to convert Texas mall into $1B mixed-use complex. Why should news from ConstructionDIVE on the conversion of a Plano, Texas mall into “500 townhouses and single-family homes, almost 3,000 apartments, offices and 450,000 square feet of retail and restaurants” get any play at all in a publication concerned primarily with Arizona real estate? Because Phoenix’s Park Central figures prominently in the report. http://bit.ly/2BMcCol

Phoenix real estate in January: Sales down, active inventory up. CalculatedRISK’s Bill McBride is back with a local housing-market update for January, which was the “third consecutive month with a YoY increase in active inventory.” http://bit.ly/2U0NnFP

Listing a home in early May will bring in the big bucks. “Buyers emerge from winter hibernation mode in the spring to shop for homes, but builders may be leaving money on the table if they list the home in the wrong week of spring selling season.” Builder looks at the “best times to list a home in each market,” including in Phoenix. http://bit.ly/2GBUlhx

Federal agency awards Arizona $1.4M to support public housing residents. “The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $74 million to public housing authorities nationwide, with more than $1.4 million going to Arizona.” See how a good chunk of that change is getting divvied up among Valley agencies, at KTAR. http://bit.ly/2GDfojw

Rental vacancy rates back to pre-recession levels as bills threaten to create more evictions. HB2115 “would make regulations of landlord and tenant issues strictly a matter of state control,” while HB 2358 “could give landlords the ability to evict tenants who pay their rents with assistance from non-profits…” Arizona Daily Mirror.  http://bit.ly/2BPUp9f

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