The Dealmaker: 5/1/2018

SHEA’S EXCELLENCE – Shea Arizona brings home 5 MAME awards for merchandising excellence. BEST: Radio Ad, Social Media Campaign, and Newspaper Ad along with TWO MORE awards in the category of Best interior Merchandising — all handed out at the “Major Achievements in Merchandising Excellence Awards Competition presented by the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona.” Read about it in Paradise Valley Independent. http://bit.ly/2HHghVm

Expected apartment shortage could raise rent in Tucson even higher.“Within two years, Tucson could face a shortage of more than 1,700 apartments pushing rents to levels not seen before in this market.” ABI’s Thomas Brophy: “We are living through a tectonic demographic shift, pushing us further and further into a more renter-centric society, which… we at ABI have coined ‘The Decade of the Renter…’ ” Arizona Daily Star. http://bit.ly/2HNt6NC

The 10 most affordable places to live in the U.S. “SmartAsset calculated the total cost for five expenses associated with owning a home… as a proportion of each area’s median household income.” And one city in northeastern Arizona came in No. 4  on the list. Find out where via CNBC. http://bit.ly/2HFk5KJ

GOPHER IT! – NAHB jumps in on Supreme Court’s gopher frog case.“NAHB [has] filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of two NAHB members contesting a provision of the Endangered Species Act that would result in $34 million in lost property value to protect an animal that doesn’t even live there.” Tap to NAHBNow for an overview of the “endangered dusky gopher frog” case. http://bit.ly/2KscXzd

Declining vacancy spurs new office developments in Phoenix. • 2018 net absorption shows “strong momentum” • Vacancy is down to “15.5 percent” • More construction projects are in “the pipeline” • Highlights from  Colliers’ Q1 report, including the rosy office-market outlook for the rest of 2018, at AZRE. http://bit.ly/2JKOaF5

Phoenix Sky Harbor records busiest month ever. March saw “nearly 4.4 million passengers traveling through…” AZ Business Magazine notes that the numbers “were 2.3 percent higher than March 2017, and 1.9 percent higher than March 2016, which set the previous record.” And all of those passengers marching through while “two billion dollars’ worth of capital improvements” at Sky Harbor continue. http://bit.ly/2HH4Fpq

North and south connection to SR 24 is paramount Queen Creek transportation need. “Traffic is everywhere, coming from all directions, mostly in the morning and afternoon…. As population continues to grow in the Southeast Valley from Mesa to San Tan Valley — and Queen Creek in between — the flow of traffic continues to exceed the capacity of its roads going into State Route 24.” Queen Creek Independent has details on some of the projects officials are looking at that would help ease the congestion. http://bit.ly/2w2EUdv

Apache Junction business district boundaries discussion. “The new [Single Central Business District] would follow the north side of Apache Trail and extend east to Tomahawk Rd. and west to Ironwood Rd. The advantage to redrawing the single central business district is to improve the area and make it more desirable to developers.” AJ News. http://bit.ly/2rfDve3

In wake of continued growth, Queen Creek eyes bolster of utility ranks.“[The town looks to add] seven positions for its utilities department to handle the increasing number of accounts and to keep up with customer service and billing responsibilities.” Queen Creek Mayor Gail Barney: “If we don’t add to the department, we can fall behind in customer service, and that’s something we pride ourselves in…” Queen Creek Independent. http://bit.ly/2Fx06YL 

Budget deliberation: IT overhaul emerges as Paradise Valley priority.Last week, members of PV Town Council heard from “their new Information Technology Chief Information Officer, Steven Brunasso,” who told them “their networks were running on nearly-stone age technology,” including a “tech system” with “one old computer” and “obsolete 2003 Microsoft Office products,” plus a town “IT complexity” that is “unstable.” And that’s just the ‘Start’ menu. More in Paradise Valley Independent. http://bit.ly/2FuNRvP

Pollack: Another week of good news. The Monday Morning Quarterback also reveals why “the rest of the year is likely to grow at more rapid rates than was experienced in the 1st quarter.” Plus, MMQ drills us with data for these ‘Snapshots’ —> U.S.: Unemployment Insurance, GDP, Consumer Confidence & Sentiment, HPI, Single-Family Home Sales. AZ: Lodging, Rental Vacancy, Office-Industrial-Retail Vacancy – Greater Phoenix. http://bit.ly/2KsHywk 

Cameron’s $5M + deals of the day – http://bit.ly/2FxEqvx

Third Annual Stella Artois Derby DayClub returns Saturday – http://bit.ly/2Fu0tmM