![]() The big Westgate Entertainment District in Glendale is going to get even bigger if plans to build several new restaurants as well as an entertainment facility become reality. Located at the intersection of Loop 101 and Glendale Avenue, the Westgate District was launched in 2006 and currently takes in some 8 million square feet of active retail space. The mixed-use district includes shopping, restaurant, entertainment, and office space, and is one of the largest urban developments of its kind in the country. Now the real estate investment trust Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Incorporated wants to build just over 30,300 square feet of new restaurant space at the Westgate, as well as an entertainment venue measuring around 14,000 square feet. Plans, which have not yet been finalized, also call for the construction of a large digital billboard. If given a green light, the space would be built on the west side of the Westgate site across from Loop 101 on property purchased by Tanger last fall. By Garry Boulard
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![]() A unique three-story building in Denver’s popular Lower Downtown neighborhood will be the subject of an action hosted by the Denver offices of Marcus and Millichap that is scheduled to begin on June 6. Built in 1895, the structure at 1612 Wazee Street sits on a less than half-acre site and houses 18 rooms, along with a nightclub and restaurant. Defined as a Class B building, it measures around 16,800 square feet, and includes a basement level with a full-service kitchen. For decades the building, at its ground level, was the home to the Barney Gross Auto Supply Company. In recent years it has seen a tenant turnover that has included the Jet Hotel, and following that, the Luna Hotel. In the spring of 2015, a new business called the Nativ Hotel opened in the structure, advertising cannabis smoking rooms as one of its amenities. The building was designed by Colorado architect John James Huddart, who was well known for his public projects, many of which were courthouses. By Garry Boulard ![]() For the first time in 22 years, the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates by as much as half a percentage point in a move designed to curb inflation. All twelve members of the Fed’s Open Market Committee have given their approval to the move. Even more, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell suggested that additional half percentage point rate hikes may well be considered in the months ahead, depending upon the inflation outlook. “Inflation is much too high, and we understand the hardship it is causing,” Powell remarked in a press conference. “We are moving expeditiously to bring it back down.” Added Powell: “We have both the tools we need and resolve to restore price stability on behalf of American families and businesses.” The last time that the Federal Reserve raised rates this high was in May of 2002. Normally, the Fed raises rates in quarter percentage point increments. Along with raising rates, the Fed also announced plans to reduce its current $9 trillion asset portfolio beginning in June. The Fed’s holdings greatly expanded as a result of its purchase of bonds as part of a stimulus strategy during the Covid 10 economic shutdown. Those two steps, notes the Wall Street Journal, “mark the most aggressive Fed tightening of monetary policy at one meeting in decades, aimed at rapidly reducing the economic stimulus that has contributed to rising price pressures.” The rise in interest rates is expected to increase credit card costs, home mortgages, and small business loans, among other credit offerings. In an analysis, Robert Dietz, chief economist with the National Association of Home Builders, noted: “The economy will undoubtedly slow with this expected path of policy. Higher interest rates are also reducing housing affordability and pricing prospective buyers out of an already tight property market.” But Dietz added that while the Fed can cool the demand side of the economy, “Additional output on the supply side is required in order to tame the growth in costs that we are seeing in housing and other sectors of the economy.” The site MarketWatch is predicting that as the Fed shrinks its mortgage-backed securities holdings, there will be an impact on liquidity in the mortgage markets. Lenders, says the site, will need to “make up the difference by raising rates.” By Garry Boulard ![]() The mountain resort town of Ruidoso has announced that it is waiving construction fees for rebuilding projects in the wake of the massive McBride Fire. That fire was named after McBride Road, near the spot where it was ignited on the afternoon of April 12. Fanned by wind gusts of up to 90 miles per hour and dry conditions, the fire moved in a northeastern direction and quickly spread into residential areas, eventually destroying or damaging more than 200 structures. It is thought that in excess of 6,000 acres were burned as a result of the McBride Fire, forcing thousands of people to quickly exit the area and killing at least two residents. In waiving the permit fees, the Village will still require that home and building owners must obtain damage investigation permits and undergo inspections. Located in the Sierra Blanca mountain range in south central New Mexico, Ruidoso has a population of just over 8,000 people, some five miles to the south of the ski resort Ski Apache, which is owned by the Mescalero Apache Tribe. By Garry Boulard ![]() Upgrade work on a modern water system on the northeast side of Carlsbad, New Mexico is receiving new funding out of Washington. The city is receiving $2 million in federal funding through the American Rescue Plan to build new infrastructure for the Double Eagle Water System. That system provides water mostly for commercial and industrial purposes, as well as livestock. Gina Raimondo, Secretary of the Commerce Department, said the project, designed to increase water security and sustainability, will “attract new businesses to the City of Carlsbad, creating a resilient regional economy.” The $2 million grant is being matched by $500,000 in local funds. A long-evolving project, the work on the Double Eagle Water System has included upgrading decades-old infrastructure and replacing 12-inch diameter piping with pipeline twice that dimension. In a statement announcing the Commerce Department funding, New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich noted that the “Double Eagle Water System is critical to the long-term water security for the community of Carlsbad.” The Double Eagle Water System is owned and operated by the City of Carlsbad. Work on the system has been decades in the planning stage and has seen the gradual building of a new waterline, along with the construction of a 5 million-gallon reservoir. By Garry Boulard ![]() Federal funding to the tune of $1.5 billion is now being made available for the upgrading of public bus facilities across the country. The Department of Transportation says the money will come through competitive grants and will also go for modernizing bus fleets to reduce or eliminate their level of emissions. “We’re making the largest ever investment in this program for buses and bus facilities, helping to deliver better commutes and cleaner air to American communities,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in announcing the funding program. The funding will come in two forms, with the Federal Transit Administration offering up to $1.1 billion in grants for bus systems to purchase low or no-emission vehicles, as well as updating bus transit stations and facilities. That $1.1 billion, more specifically, is part of the FTA’s Low or No Emission grant program. In officially announcing the outlines of the Low or No program earlier this, the FTA said funding could be applied to “constructing or leasing facilities and related equipment” for low or no emission buses, as well as “constructing new public transportation facilities” for the same purpose. The second source of funding will be found through the Buses and Bus Facilities Program, which is offering up to $372 million, also in competitive grants, to bus systems buying new low-emission vehicles, or updating bus facilities. Eligible applicants for the grants include state, local, and Indian Tribe government authorities. Applicants for rural area projects must be submitted as part of a larger consolidated state proposal. By Garry Boulard ![]() A well-known and much-visited amusement park in Scottsdale may soon be redeveloped for other purposes. Located at 16001 N. Scottsdale Road, the Cracker Jax Family Fun and Sports Park was opened almost three decades ago and features a wide variety of miniature golf, go-kart, and bumper boat offerings. Sitting on some 28 acres, the park is around 9 miles to the north of downtown Scottsdale in an area of shopping malls and multi-story office buildings. Now the owner of CrowdStrike Holdings Incorporated, a cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, has purchased the Cracker Jax site for $55.5 million, with plans to turn it into a high-tech business park. In a statement, George Kurtz, chief executive officer of CrowdStrike, said he hopes to create a “transformational, sustainable mixed-use campus as a catalyst to attract top innovators, technology entrepreneurs, knowledge workers, and venture capitalists to accelerate Scottsdale’s growing technology cluster.” According to the Phoenix Business Journal, Kurtz has “brought on Stockdale Capital Partners to oversee the project.” That company, based in Los Angeles, is described as a “vertically-integrated real estate investment firm” which has redeveloped and upgraded shopping mall, hotel, and office projects throughout the southwest. An exact schedule for the redevelopment of the Cracker Jax site has not yet been announced. By Garry Boulard ![]() One of the great historic Art Deco treasures of downtown El Paso is soon going to be repurposed owing to incentives support from the city. Located at 110 E. Mills Avenue, the Kress Building is the former home of an S.H. Kress and Company department store that was opened in 1938 and served as a full-serve, multi-story store for half a century. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the structure in the last two decades was in decline before being purchased in late 2018 by El Paso oilman and developer Paul Foster. In the last three years Foster has several times aired ideas on updating the structure known for its buff-colored stucco cladding, red Spanish tile roof, and 5-story corner tower. But now a plan to repurpose the building as a food hall and events center has secured just over $2 million in city rebates, as approved by the El Paso City Council. Those incentives are in addition to nearly $415,000 in property tax rebates that the project is also receiving from the County of El Paso. What is expected to be a more than $18 million project will see the upgrading of the building’s grand 15,000 square foot main floor, reconfiguring that space for use by a series of food vendors. The second floor, also measuring 15,000 square feet, will see the construction an events center, with meeting rooms of various sizes. The structure’s basement will be refigured for a salon and spa. Work on what is expected to be a two-year project is expected to begin by mid-summer. Nearly 300 Kress buildings were built during the first half of the last century, with each structure being architecturally distinctive. According to the Washington-based National Building Museum, Samuel Kress, owner of Kress and Company, regarded each of his stores as “works of public art that would contribute to the cityscape.” By Garry Boulard ![]() A push to build new boat storage facilities across the country is taking off as more and more Americans are purchasing such vessels for recreational purposes, says a new industry study. The Phoenix-based Yardi Matrix, which studies everything from student housing to multifamily development trends, says boat storge development and construction projects are on the rise almost everywhere, with a particular emphasis on locations in the West. Noting that currently both boat and recreational vehicle storage facilities make up around 6,850 acres of space, the Yardi Matrix report says the Denver area currently has such storage facilities equal to just under 597 acres; followed by San Francisco at 420 acres; and metro Dallas at 345 acres. In terms of the individual storage facilities, Denver comes in just shy of 50; with Houston at 45; and San Francisco at 39. There are currently around 35 storage facilities in the pipeline nationally. The need for boat storage facilities follows on the heels of unprecedented growth in the recreational boat industry. Last year more than 300,000 powerboats were sold, with projections of a 3% increase over those figures by the end of 2022. Earlier this year, the National Marine Manufacturers Association, based in Chicago, said the boom in powerboat sales was the result of “more Americans seeking out boating as an accessible outdoor activity,” especially during a time when other outdoor activities were impacted and restricted due to the Covid 19 outbreak. By Garry Boulard ![]() Yet one more modern industrial facility is set to soon see construction in southern Arizona. The commercial developer MacLaughlin & Company, which is based in Sacramento, California, wants to build a $25 million facility in the city of Surprise at the intersection of N. Dysart Road and Cactus Road. Located nearly 30 miles to the northwest of Phoenix, Surprise in recent years has emerged as one of the nation’s fastest-growing industrial development markets. The project will go up on 11 acres inside the Summit Business Park which the company earlier purchased and will entail the construction of a nearly 134,000 square foot facility. That park, which includes a variety of lot sizes, takes in just over 140 acres. MacLaughlin, a property management and brokerage company, has specialized in commercial and industrial real estate projects primarily in Northern California and the Central Valley since the mid-1960s. According to a press release issued by the company, the new Surprise project will include heavy power fire sprinklers, a 28-foot clearance height, dock and grade level loading, and “truck trailer storage and ample parking.” Design work by Cawley Architects of Phoenix is already underway, with the actual construction expected to begin sometime this summer. If all goes according to plans, the new facility should be complete and ready for business by early next year. By Garry Boulard |
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