The Dealmaker: 10/22/2018

Seeking Family Lawyer (2-5 years). Rose Law Group is looking for an attorney with 2-5 years of experience practicing family law to add to their Family Law Team. Ideal candidate is smart, confident, proactive, and has strong written and verbal communication. Please send resumes to Hopi Slaughter at hslaughter@roselawgroup.com.

SCOOP: Proposed Opportunity Zone regulations released by Treasury. The Treasury Department on Friday issued proposed regulations and guidance for investing in Opportunity Zones, and Rose Law Group transactional attorney Dan Gauthier, who’s done an extensive amount of work on O-Zone projects, spent the weekend poring over the new rules that “offer favorable treatment to real estate investors and developers.” Rose Law Group Reporter. http://bit.ly/2yuABGF

Nikola to Pinal, early stage of Detroit for electric vehicles. With not one, but TWO electric vehicle companies on the way — first Lucid Motors, now Nikola — is Pinal emerging as Motor County? That was one of the hot topics driving the discussion at the Pinal Partnership breakfast on Friday. Rose Law Group Founder and President Jordan Rose steered talk among a panel comprised of Saint Holdings President/CEO Jacob Anderson; BDO Managing Director, Site-Selection & Incentives Tom Stringer; Coolidge Mayor Jon Thompson; President/CEO, Arizona Department of Commerce Sandra Watson; and Nikola CLO Britton Worthen. Callan Smith was also there and has coverage in RLGR. http://bit.ly/2ScDSmz

Video led Pinal landowner to recruit truck company to Coolidge.(Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents Saint Holdings as the landowner.)  After watching a YouTube video from Nikola “about a zero-emission semi-truck the company is planning to produce,” Saint Holdings President and CEO Jackob Andersen “knew of just the spot” to manufacture it: “A 2,700-acre site in Coolidge.” Coolidge Examiner. http://bit.ly/2EEMkYS

Nikola will hire 200 by end of 2019 as its truck-manufacturing vision nears. Nikola is “expanding its administrative and engineering staff” as it gears up for its “1 million-square-foot manufacturing plant.” And that’s just for starters! Down the road, there’s potential for thousands more jobs, thanks to this Coolidge “catalyst for Pinal County.” AZCentral. http://bit.ly/2PdCxNw

Cadence at Gateway ready to open to public. But first, a “VIP preview of The Square and its amenities.” The Thursday “event, hosted by developers Harvard Investments, gathered investors, partners, builders and the contractors who have been building Cadence, as well as elected officials, including guest speaker Mesa Mayor John Giles.” AzBigMedia. http://bit.ly/2OE7xqk

Housing market is faltering and strong economy offers no cure. “The housing market is stumbling through its longest slump in four years, as the divergence between a booming U.S. economy and weakening home sales that many had dismissed as temporary now looks poised to continue.” WSJ (Subscriber Content) http://bit.ly/2EEvdXf

The best states for middle-class buyers in 2018. Arizona impresses in this SmartAsset study examining data that includes “percent growth in middle-class jobs, effective property tax rate, the effective income tax rate, median home value and homeownership rate.” http://bit.ly/2OJajuE

Mesa multi-use will let seniors age in place. Khangura Development & BioCity Enterprises will move forward with plans for GrandeVita, “a major multi-use, campus-style assisted living development” near Crismon and Hampton, after Mesa city planners approved a rezoning request. AZBEX. http://bit.ly/2CXfqAZ

Rialto Theatre will be displaced for 2 years while 16-story hotel is built in downtown Tucson. “Element Hotel and Moxy Hotel, which are both Marriott brands, will share a new building on the south lot of the Rialto Theatre block.” After putting up the AC Marriott “across the street,” the  “Dabdoub and Stiteler families” are “again teaming up” on this “16-story,” “$88 million project. ”Arizona Daily Star. http://bit.ly/2NXGhxR 

Fulton Homes commits to donate funds for Phoenix Suns points. Every three the Suns sink this season, Fulton” will donate $100 to The Navy League, a national association with nearly 50,000 members who advocate for a strong, credible United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, United States Coast Guard and U.S. Merchant Marine.” Queen Creek Independent. http://bit.ly/2q5KciR

BY GEORGE! – St. George advances plans for 3,350-acre planned community along Arizona border. “Plans for a development that could add tens of thousands of new residents to St. George received a key approval Thursday from the city council.” St. George Spectrum. http://bit.ly/2Pi0aEy

Be a part of Scottsdale Polo Party history, November 10 and 11 – http://bit.ly/2P6fwsm

10th Annual AZ DealMakers – January 11, 2019. Don’t miss out on the BIGGEST homebuilding industry event for real estate forecasting and analysis, featuring the best speakers in the industry, including Meritage Homes Chairman & CEO Steven J. Hilton and Christopher Todd Communities CEO Todd Wood. Plus, Belfiore Real Estate Consulting President & Founder Jim Belfiore provides an Overview on Housing. For the full list of speakers & panelists, along with registration info for Arizona Housing: Growth, Its Costs, Challenges & Opportunities, tap on! http://bit.ly/2LAvclq 

As a supplement to the Dealmaker, we thought you might enjoy these articles!

Trump plan to boost Western water by easing rules worries advocates.“The White House on Friday released a plan that it said would improve water reliability and availability in the West by streamlining regulatory processes.” Cronkite News reports, however, that while plan details were “scarce,” environmental groups were “sure it’s a bad idea.” http://bit.ly/2ystS02

Utah’s largest-ever economic development project likely heading to court. “Even under their best-case scenarios, opponents of Utah’s inland port — which has been billed as the state’s largest-ever economic development project — say it will likely worsen air quality and damage the Great Salt Lake’s already fragile ecosystem.” Salt Lake Tribune. http://bit.ly/2CA7eG6

Misconduct claims led to probes of 16 University of Arizona athletes, staffers since 2012. <— That “according to a document produced in court by the school’s attorney. The document is part of the discovery process in one of two federal Title IX lawsuits levied against the UA.” Arizona Daily Star. http://bit.ly/2NWaqxB

Bipartisan coalition aims to decriminalize marijuana possession. “State lawmakers are planning a bipartisan push to loosen Arizona’s marijuana possession laws, which are considered by many as among the harshest in the United States.” Arizona Mirror. http://bit.ly/2ysExYI

Just how politically engaged is Arizona? To find out, WalletHub looked at “ten key indicators of political engagement,” ranging from “ ‘percentage of registered voters in the 2016 presidential election’ to ‘total political contributions per adult population.’ ” http://bit.ly/2NX8moU

What Is Harvard trying to hide? “For years, reporters have been trying to get elite universities to be more transparent about their admissions process. It might take a court to pry it all open — with unforeseen consequences.” POLITICO. http://bit.ly/2PeRqir

[OPINION] No, A.I. won’t solve the fake news problem. Mark Zuckerberg has a vision that, “soon enough,” Facebook’s A.I. “would be able to detect fake news.” Not so fast, say neural science prof Gary Marcus and computer science prof Ernest Davis. They argue in the NY Times that before Zuckerberg’s vision can become reality, there first needs to be “a fundamentally new A.I. paradigm.” And that could take “decades.” http://bit.ly/2q67Dso