Housing boom for Pinal? The Pinal County housing market will be the main topic at TOMORROW’s Pinal Partnership February breakfast being held at Elements at Ak-Chin Circle. Speakers/panelists include Jeremy Ramsdell, Ashton Woods, Jeff Gunderson, Lennar. Full details on attending TOMORROW’s (Friday, February 9th) event in Rose Law Group Reporter. http://bit.ly/2FYacSV
Home builders association sues Pinal RTA. (Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents a coalition of property and business owners throughout Pinal County working to bring new transportation infrastructure to the county.) “The Home Builders Association of Central Arizona is suing the county over Proposition 417, arguing that… taxpayers were misled when they voted… ” However, in Casa Grande Dispatch, Pinal County spokesman, Joe Pyritz, begs to differ. http://bit.ly/2nSUIbz
Quick Quack Car Wash ruffles feathers in Tempe. (Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents Michael Pollack in this matter.) “The city received hundreds of emails from people weighing in on the… proposed Quick Quack Car Wash” at Baseline and McClintock. One of those weighing in — via letter — was Thomas F. Galvin, land-use, regulatory and water attorney with Rose Law Group, which has “filed an appeal with the city” on behalf of developer Michael Pollack in order “to revoke [Quick Quack’s] building permits.” As Thomas Galvin puts it in this AZCentral report: “The proposed car wash that plans to display a giant duck does not evoke Tempe’s vision for ‘a city that is visually attractive.’ ” http://bit.ly/2EbAdSs
Governor gives thumbs down on water proposals. “Despite months spent hashing out water proposals behind closed doors, [Gov. Doug Ducey] doesn’t like what he sees in legislation meant to overhaul water policy.” Why not? Arizona Capitol Times reports that what’s missing are “key provisions to protect the level of water in Lake Mead and fend off any future shortages.” (Subscriber Content). http://bit.ly/2Epi03h
Bob Parsons’ YAM Properties breaks ground on North Scottsdale development. The Arizona-based real estate investment company founded by Bob Parsons has broken ground on YAM Circle, a 17,800-square-foot shopping and dining hub located at the traffic circle connecting Hayden Road and Northsight Boulevard. This will be the first project YAM Properties will build and develop from the ground up. Full press-release details in Rose Law Group Reporter. http://bit.ly/2EbAJvQ
Business Briefcase: Goodyear approves 100 court home lots. “Bella Rosa is coming to the Canyon Trails [MPC]. Goodyear Council approved the preliminary plat for the community, which is located at the [N.E.] corner of Van Buren Street and 158th Avenue… This subdivides 17.5 acres into 100 court home lots and 11 tracts.” More on this project and other West Valley real estate related “moves,” in West Valley View. http://bit.ly/2C5cMUW
Millennials are flocking to the suburbs—here are 20 of the most desirable ones in America.Money looked at the “best place to live in every U.S. state based on qualities like affordability, convenience, education and safety” — and one Valley town came out on top! HOWEVER, one piece of data in particular for this local enclave nearly rocked the worlds of some here at Dealmaker HQ when they saw it. See if you can spot it among CNBC’s highlights of the Moneyreport. http://bit.ly/2FUTDY0
Redfin users looking to flee high-tax hubs. Buh-bye, L.A., San Fran, and New York City. Hello, Valley of the Sun! Phoenix was among the top destinations that Redfin “home searchers” had their eyes on when looking to “move to another metro area.” Highlights, plus a link to “the full report, complete with an interactive data map of metro-to-metro migration trends and full methodology” — in Builder. http://bit.ly/2nNXxeH
Arizona offers homeowners little protection from bad HOAs, managers.<– “As a result, homeowners are left with little recourse when an HOA decides to take their home, or a management company embezzles hundreds of thousands of dollars intended to repair roads or replace roofs. Some housing advocates are pushing for reforms — and more oversight. But most of their efforts have found little traction.” AZCentral reports on “where homeowners can turn” when “HOA’s go bad.” http://bit.ly/2FZKYnw
Consumers are stoked about housing market. “Five of the six components that make up Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index rose in January, pushing the index to an all-time high.” What was the “main driver of the overall index”? Find out, plus get a full component breakdown along with perspective from Fannie Mae chief data dude Doug Duncan — all in Mortgage News Daily.http://bit.ly/2BhARuV
Will stock market volatility affect house prices? MarketWatch poses the question. The replies come via two esteemed industry insiders: Daren Blomquist, senior vp at Attom Data Solutions, and Joseph Kirchner, senior economist at Realtor.com®. Oh, and then near the end of the article, some guy named Sam Heskel — apparently a bigwig at some “real-estate property valuation firm in Brooklyn, N.Y.” — throws in his two cents. http://bit.ly/2sh2fWZ
Hours of work needed to pay rent in the 25 largest cities. “SmartAsset set out to find where rent consumes the most of the average paycheck,” and Builder has the “Key Findings,” including the kind of work-week Phoenicians must put in to meet their monthly rental nut. http://bit.ly/2shqSmv
Meck: Nikola move a ‘huge asset.’ “The new 1-million-square-foot [Nikola Motor Company] facility, which will sit on 500 acres of land at the Sun Valley and future Wintersburg parkways, is expected to bring a $1 billion capital investment and nearly 2,100 jobs to the city by 2024.” It’s also expected to “jump-start the development of the master-planned community Trillium at Douglas Ranch.” And Buckeye Mayor Jackie Meck is TOTALLY PSYCHED about all of it, in West Valley View. http://bit.ly/2skgt9I
Downtown Chandler stop three on Payson officials’ redevelopment tour.“Hoping to gain inspiration from other communities that have boosted their downtowns, Payson staff and council members visited with Chandler officials for ideas on how to take Payson’s historic Main Street from cowboy roots to thriving economic center.” And it looks like reporter Alexis Bechman tagged along on the ‘official’ tour. Read her coverage in Payson Roundup. http://bit.ly/2EQn52g
East Valley losing another high-profile leader to Mormon mission. On Monday, Dealmaker mentioned a news item that focused primarily on Denny Barney stepping down as a Maricopa County Supervisor to assume the role as CEO of the East Valley Partnership. Today, AZCentral shines the spotlight on the man for whom Barney is taking over: Former Gilbert mayor John Lewis, who is “step[ping] down to serve as a mission president of the Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church in Cambodia.” http://bit.ly/2BO0Uv5
Maricopa scrambles to fill Copper Sky funding loss. The City of Maricopa is entering the “fifth and final year” of a “$7.4 million grant… awarded” to it “by the AK-Chin Indian Community.” InMaricopa reports that with the “funding loss” right around the corner, “administrators are sifting through” the budget for Copper Sky Regional Park and Multi-Generational Center “in an attempt to lower overhead and get the facility on track to self-sustainability.” http://bit.ly/2C3aYM5
Goodyear offers city manager post to Arendall. Out of “58” applicants, former “deputy manager of the City of Peoria,” Julie Arendall, “has been selected to be Goodyear’s next city manager.” For more on ‘city manager-select’ Arendall and her “17 years in local government,” tap to Arizona Business Daily. http://bit.ly/2C51Wyg
Florence Town Council debates value of attending national conference.“The council was asked to authorize up to $5,400 to send Mayor Tara Walter and Vice Mayor Vallarie Woolridge to the National League of Cities & Towns’ annual conference, March 8-14 in Washington, D.C.” HOWEVER: “With a couple of council members questioning the value of attending… the Town Council voted to table the item.” Get the blow-by-blow of how Monday’s vote went down, in Florence Reminder. –> http://bit.ly/2nTX2Ps
When was the last time a government turned down a million bucks? It was Tuesday, actually. That was when “Pima County’s supervisors voted for the first time to reject [$1.4M in] federal money that encourages collaboration between the Sheriff’s Department and the Border Patrol…” More on the 3-2 party-line vote and what it means for “agencies along the border,” in Arizona Daily Star. http://bit.ly/2EdE518
2 snafus in CD8 special election ballots. “A generic illustration demonstrating how to fill out election ballots will be redesigned after it caused confusion among some voters in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District… [T]he illustration instructs voters to ‘vote for not more than 2’ candidates.” And the problem with that is…? Find out in Arizona Capitol Times. (In RELATED snafu news, AZCentral has this: “How a Glendale woman got 2 ballots for special election to replace Trent Franks.”) http://bit.ly/2EcgFxr
Robots, the future errand-runners of Arizona? “State lawmakers took the first steps Wednesday to legalize the use of what are formally called ‘personal delivery devices.’” Capitol Media Services’ Howard Fischer reports that HB 2422 would “specifically grant” these “armies of small six-wheeled automated robots” the “right to operate on sidewalks and in crosswalks” in order to deliver “everything from lunch and groceries to the mail.” READ ON at Arizona Capitol Times. http://bit.ly/2C4YUdn
When the media become a political weapon. “People are struggling to distinguish real facts from fake news, driving a collapse of trust in the media and government as institutions… Political operatives who once relied on one-sided media outlets and platforms during campaigns now acknowledge their role in the erosion of trust in media and facts in general.” Axios. http://bit.ly/2EaY00B
The coming conflict between millennials and boomers. “The U.S. is headed for a potentially dangerous new social rift, this time between millennials and baby boomers, each wrestling for diminishing jobs and shrinking government assistance, according to a new paper.” Axios. http://bit.ly/2se7lna
Here’s why (and where) we aren’t living as long. “In 1960, the U.S. had the highest life expectancy in the world. It’s lost ground to other industrialized nations ever since.” That finding and others in this USA TODAY overview of a new report “in the BMJ, formerly known as the British Medical Journal.” http://bit.ly/2BiJlSD
The power of helping those in need: Rose Law Group Heroes of the Week. Rose Law Group Reporter salutes nine Salt River Project employees who returned home this week after helping with the efforts to restore power to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. http://bit.ly/2E9uf4B
