Tuesday Volume 4 Issue 5 Issue Date: March 5, 2013 CONNECTING THE LOCAL BUILDING INDUSTRY Sequester Kills $4B in Federal Construction, Work at Luke Appears Untouched By Eric Jay Toll for Air Force Construction Cut $151M; Luke F-35 Program Protected Arizona Builder’s There are no easy answers on how The Office of Management and the Transportation Trust Fund that Exchange much money sequestration—the Budget says $151M in Air Force reimburses many highway projects, budget solution that was never projects are chopped off effective were slashed by $350M—impacting supposed to occur—is going to March 1st. A spokesperson for Luke authorized, but not yet built, cost the U.S. economy. Nationally, Air Force Base said they have been projects. The Airport trust fund was Associated General Contractors told that the F-35 program has been cut by $142M. projected that $4B in federal protected from cuts. “As far as we VA projects—such as the new Gilbert construction dollars will be hacked know,” says Lt. Col. Holly Slaughter, clinic—are also exempt from the out of the economy. The March 1st “we have not been told to make any sequester. Office of Management and Budget reductions in our program.” More (OMB) report to Congress confirmed than $135M in construction is part of The presidential order prevents AGC’s projection. Overall, the federal the F-35 conversion at the Glendale federal agencies from entering into budget requires an immediate $85B air base. any new contracts. cut. It is not, however, equally cut Highway and airport projects paid Read the line-item sequestration across-the-board. from trust funds are exempt from report to Congress at OMB the sequester. Even so, payments to Photo Credit: Fightercountry.org Project Solicitations in this Issue: 39 Design/Consultants 49 Horizontal 22 Commercial 26 Products & Equipment 5 Development Opps 22 Utilities 44 Maintenance 26 Permits Issued The Arizona Builder’s Exchange is a compilation of information gathered from the public domain. Individual articles are protected by their respective copyright. The publication as a whole is copyright protected to the Arizona Builder’s Exchange. To forward or share the information with others outside of your firm is a violation of that copyright, punishable by law. 2 Volume 4, Issue 5 Table of Contents Articles 5 3 Big Money Boosters Plot New Downtown Phoenix Blueprint 4 Pima Community College Going for Downtown Tucson Campus 5 Cactus League Venues Hawk More than Peanuts and Beer 6 SB1344 Would Add New Layer of Review to Highway Const. 7 NAU-Yuma, AWC Receive Joint $3.7 Million Grant 7 Medical Construction Boosts Yuma Building Activity 7 7 Company Plans More Oil Exploration in Southern Ariz. 8 Big-Name Eateries at the Table for Valley Economic Recovery 8 More Fast-Food Chains Eye Phoenix Expansion 9 Scottsdale Proposes $17.3M CIP for Roads in 2014 9 Local A/E/C Professionals Realize Value of MBA Apartments Acquisition OK’d as Grant-Obligation Strategy 10 8 11 Phoenix Office Absorption to Drag through Mid-Year 13 Texan Gehan Homes Coming to Phoenix Market 14 Apartments Hot Stuff in Valley of the Sun Sections 10 Classifieds 12 Permits Issued 14 14 Commercial Real Estate News 20 Industry Events Project Opportunities 17 Planning/Design/Inspection/Consultant 22 Development Opportunities 15 23 Horizontal 30 Utilities 33 Commercial 36 Maintenance & Alterations 40 Products & Equipment 3 Tuesday, March 5, 2013 Big Money Boosters Plot New Downtown Phoenix Blueprint Meet the Mike Sunnucks for The architects of the new Downtown Phoenix Inc. group see that Team! Phoenix Business group and new downtown economic development efforts as a real maturation of the decades-long effort to bring vibrancy to Journal Rebekah Morris - Publisher the historically sleepy central business district. William Shakespeare CityScape developer Mike Ebert, architect Mo Stein and 480-709-4190 incoming DPI CEO David Krietor talk about encouraging more entrepreneurs, creative businesses, infill developers and other [email protected] “urban pioneers” to come to the downtown area. Phoenix’s core doesn’t have the downtown retail seen in Seattle, Rachel Kettenhofen - Editor San Francisco or Denver, but it’s shown marked improvement Isaac Newton from the recent past. 480-227-2620 The new effort also looks to expand downtown’s footprint and [email protected] focus areas. In the past, much of the downtown focus has been on the areas near the sports stadiums, Arizona Center and the big office buildings. That has resulted in downtown efforts being Eric Jay Toll - Senior Correspondent led by and focused on the big companies in those buildings, the Nicolaus Copernicus sports teams and big real estate developers. 602-617-3797 Krietor said the new downtown group will have a big geographic [email protected] focus going from 7th Street to 7th Avenue and McDowell Road down to just south of Chase Field and US Airways Center. Michele Carey - General Manager The new downtown group will serve as an umbrella Galileo organization for the 150-member Community Alliance and the Downtown Phoenix Partnership. That brings up questions as to 480-686-4315 redundancies. Krietor hopes to avoid that and contends the new [email protected] group will be streamlined and compliment — not overlap — the existing groups. Arizona Builders Exchange Read more at Phoenix Business Journal 1400 E Indian School Road Phoenix, AZ 85014 McDowell Road AZBEX News If you’d like to learn more about how we do what we do, consider attending the next lunch with the Publisher on March 19th. See page 4 for details. AZBEX - Tip of the Week We are happy to post your press Downtown Phoenix releases, promotions, new hires, Area of Focus project awards and employment ads for everyone to see. Email [email protected] 7th Street 7th Ave Editor’s Picks from the Last Issue • Annual RED Award Winners Announced • Mesa Set To Sell Eastmark Bonds Jackson Street Click here to return to Table of Contents 4 Volume 4, Issue 5 Pima Community College Going for Downtown Tucson Campus By Eric Jay Toll for Growing from a collection of classrooms, Pima The Pima college governing board directed its staff Arizona Builder’s Community College is in the first steps of a planned to identify a location for a downtown facility. “It’s Exchange expansion for its downtown Tucson campus. Growing not necessarily going to be a campus, we also have enrollment and workforce education services are driving education centers throughout the county. The new site is the plan. going to fall somewhere between the two,” he said. PCC already has six campuses including Downtown, Karamargin said that the college will improve space in an 1255 N. Stone Ave. and Community, 401 N. Bonita existing building to meet its needs. Ave. A larger downtown presence may consolidate those campuses and add offices for registration, “The downtown location has a lot of possibilities for career placement, financial aid and advising. Currently, us to serve those who work in the area,” he explained. the school’s workforce education programs at the “Downtown Tucson has a lot of new activity as a result of Community campus are at maximum capacity. More commitments from the current and previous mayors. We space is needed to meet demand. want to be part of that energy.” Community serves as the college’s distance learning and The site identification is focused on the central non-credit continuing education center. The Downtown downtown area as the most suitable location for campus focuses on trade skills for career advancement in coursework for working professionals—as well as machine tools, building and construction technologies. housing space for growth and student services. A Neither campus will be relocated, according to C. J. deadline for reporting back to the board has not been Karamargin, Vice Chancellor for Public Information. established, but the college wants to take the time necessary to do the job thoroughly. Lunch with the Publisher Want some tips & tricks to maximize your use of the information we track? Come enjoy Lunch with the Publisher & get some new ideas! Tuesday, March 19, 2013; 11:30am-1pm No charge for current subscribers to attend, but RSVP is required due to limited seating and lunch service. 1400 E Indian School Rd, Phoenix, 85014 (Inside Goodmans Interior Structures) E-mail [email protected] or call 480-709-4190 to Rebekah Morris reserve your spot! Click here to return to Table of Contents 5 Tuesday, March 5, 2013 Cactus League Venues Hawk More than Peanuts and Beer Compiled by The Cactus League and host cities are gearing up for lure new teams into the market, not for moving a team Eric Jay Toll for older spring training park renovations, says the Phoenix from one Cactus League city to another. Business Journal premium content. Reporter Joe Martin Arizona Builder’s Phoenix is still spring-training home to the Brewers, and is talks about plans to create cash-flow running outside Exchange the major league home of the Diamondbacks. Chase Field of the first quarter each year. Any new stadium is an is not used during spring training. Mesa will now host the economic unlikelihood at this stage, according to the Cubs and A’s. story. Martin talks about opportunities for year-round events. With spring training pumping close to two thirds of a billion dollars into the local economy, cities, the league The newest pair, Talking Stick and Riverview, carried and teams are watching big dollars go through the $100M price tags. Mesa is pumping $20M into turnstyles and starting to see big dollars meandering renovations at Hohokam Stadium to accommodate the A’s to nearby businesses after the games.