![]() For nearly 50 years the Chase Tower in downtown Phoenix has held the record, at 483 feet in height, as the tallest building in all of Arizona. Now a proposal to build a mixed-use twin tower, with one of the towers rising to 540 feet, threatens to eclipse that record. Geoffrey Jacobs, a partner in the Scottsdale-based Aspirant Development, has announced plans to put up the twin tower project in the 300 block of North Second Avenue, on a site that currently serves as a parking lot for a local YMCA. The taller structure would house a hotel and residential units, as well as a restaurant and lounge. The smaller tower, at 359 feet in height, will feature both office and retail space. The project, with the internationally known firm of Solomon Cordwell Buenz serving as its architect, requires city approval, particularly because the proposed taller tower is 15 feet higher than what is currently allowed in Phoenix. Called the Astra, the project would go up several blocks away from a downtown nucleus of high-rises mostly built in a two-decade period between 1972 and 1991. Preliminary plans for the Astra are set to go before the city’s Central City Village Planning Committee, which is tasked with reviewing proposed downtown Phoenix development projects, next month. By Garry Boulard
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![]() Over six hundred buildings in El Paso’s El Segundo Barrio neighborhood may now eligible for upgrading and preservation funding, as a result of a new ruling defining the boundaries of the Segundo Barrio National Historic District. Members of the El Paso County Commission have voted unanimously to officially designate an area running from South Cotton Street on the east side, to South Santa Fe Street on the west side, as comprising two boundaries of the district. Paisano Drive on the north side and the Border Highway on the south side make up the rest of the district’s boundaries. Within those borders exist any number of historic one-, two-, and three-story commercial and residential structures built in the early 20th century and before. The commission vote follows on the heels of a report earlier submitted to the county by the Austin-based preservation consulting company HHM & Associates laying out the recommended contours of the district. The Segundo Barrio is one of the oldest neighborhoods in El Paso, with roots reaching back to the 1830s. The neighborhood saw a particular uptick in its population during the decade of the Mexican Revolution from 1910 to 1920 when hundreds of people left Mexico and moved into the area. City officials say most of the Segundo Barrio’s architecturally significant structures are in need of rehabilitation and upgrading. By Garry Boulard ![]() The Federal Reserve has just announced that a program announced earlier this spring intended to help businesses withstand the COVID-19 economic shutdown is now fully operational. In a press release issued by the Fed, it is noted that financial institutions across the country hoping to participate in the Main Street Lending Program, “may now submit qualifying loans for the Fed to purchase.” The Fed additionally announced that it is committed to buying up to “95 percent of each loan submitted.” The program, which offers around $600 billion for small and medium-sized businesses, is intended to provide support not currently available in the Paycheck Protection Program. The PPP offers forgivable loans for businesses with five hundred or less employees, while the Main Street Lending Program is available for companies with up to 15,000 employees. Businesses making as much as $5 billion in annual revenue are also eligible for Main Street loans that can range in size from $250,000 to $300 million. According to reports, the banking industry’s response to the program, since it was first aired two months ago, has so far been underwhelming. Out of nearly 11,000 federally insured banks and credit unions nationally, only around 300 such institutions have submitted the required paperwork to be a part of the program. Speaking last month before the Senate Banking Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged that some financial institutions have been less than enthusiastic about the program, particularly given that its terms have changed several times during the development phase. Trying to make sense out of some of the confusing stipulations, some companies have even wondered whether, in the end, they will be eligible for help under the program. But, said Powell: “As we have been since the very beginning, we are very open to learning and adapting.” Powell added that aspects of the Main Street Lending Program may be changed in the near-term future in order to more specifically address the economic needs of companies and businesses. By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans have been announced to build out roughly a quarter million square feet of new facility space within the boundaries of a 105-acre technology park in Fort Collins. The Harmony Technology Park, located at 4750 Technology Parkway near the intersection of Lady Moon Drive and East Harmony Road, was launched in 2008 as a site for new office, industrial, and commercial space. The owner and developer of the park is MAVDevelopment, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based firm that has spearheaded mixed-use sites and technology parks throughout Michigan and Colorado. Although the City of Fort Collins initially approved a property tax, whose revenues would go for the construction of street and utility infrastructure at the site, construction at the park in the immediate years after its launching was delayed by the onset of the Great Recession. In the years since, however, the park has proven a popular destination for any number of companies, seeing up to $80 million in new construction in just 2017 alone. The Harmony Technology Park, located roughly 8 miles to the southeast of downtown Fort Collins, is also the home to what is called the Harmony Commons, a community-like section of land featuring a hotel, brew pub, and restaurants. Now plans are underway for the expansion of a facility housing the WilMarc medical supplies company, whose address is 3420 Precision Drive. The company wants to add 100,000 square feet to its current footprint in the park. The park may also soon see the construction of an 81,000 square foot building that will be used for medical offices, while another structure, at 51,000 square feet, will house warehouse and light industrial space. Plans for the three new building projects at the park are currently being reviewed by the City of Fort Collins. An exact construction schedule for any of the projects has not yet been announced. By Garry Boulard ![]() The City of Phoenix has issued a Request for Proposals for a unique program that is expected to see the construction of around 160 wrought iron gates in various alleyways around the city. The Gated Alley Program was launched two years ago with the building of an initial six gates in the Royal Palm neighborhood on the north side of the city. In a move to prevent vandalism and the dumping of trash in alleyways, city officials determined such spaces could best be protected with 6-foot high wrought iron gates that would be installed at both ends of the corridors. Now, in a program administered by the city’s Neighborhood Services Department, at least 80 alleyways are expected to see the construction of new gates. Those gates will have a minimum of 45 inches between horizontal bars, with no bars in between that could be used as toeholds or handholds for climbing. The gates will also lack meshing or screens to discourage graffiti. Some $400,000 in funding for the gate construction initiative was earlier secured by the city through a Neighborhood Block Watch grant program. By Garry Boulard ![]() Continuing to slowly pull itself out from the depths of a COVID-19 outbreak and economic shutdown, the U.S. posted 4.8 million new jobs last month. According to the federal Department of Labor, that job growth meant that the national unemployment rate in the last month has fallen to 11.1 percent from the 13.3 percent recorded in May. In a statement, Eugene Scalia, Secretary of the Labor Department, said the new numbers means that “our resilient economy continues to return more people to work more quickly than forecast.” With the jobless numbers for African-American workers dropping from 16.8 percent to 15.4 percent, and Hispanic-American workers seeing a drop from 17.6 percent to 14.5 percent, Scalia added: “It is heartening to see employment gains across nearly all demographics.” The 4.8 million gain in jobs follows a May increase of 2.7 million, with the construction industry adding 158,000 new jobs. The building industry’s unemployment numbers were also more healthy than the country at large with a posted June jobless rate of 10.1 percent, down from 12.7 percent in May and 16.6 percent the month before. Despite the decline in unemployment, the new Labor Department figures underline the dramatic trajectory of the national economy so far this year: in February the jobless rate was at 3.5 percent, the lowest such figure since 1969. Economists have also said that they are worried that a second COVID-19 wave either late this summer or early fall could wipe out much of the job gains from the last two months. In his statement, Scalia struck an upbeat note, saying that the most recent joblessness decline shows: “We can return millions more Americans to work in the weeks ahead, provided we bear in mind that economic recovery must go hand-in-hand with safe practices and self-discipline." By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans are now in the works for the construction of a new electric substation that will go up in Albuquerque near the intersection of Atrisco Vista Boulevard and Interstate 40. The facility will belong to the Public Service Company of New Mexico, and could see construction beginning later this fall, with an early 2021 completion date. The Albuquerque-based PNM provides electricity to an estimated 530,000 homes and businesses in the northern part of the state, as well as West Texas. The company has recently been engaged in an effort to build out its facilities in order to accommodate continuing customer demand. In February, PNM announced plans to build a new substation on a vacant site at the southwest corner of Paseo Del Norte Frontage Road NE and Browning Road NE. Work on that facility, officially called the Palomas Substation, will begin later this year with a rough completion date of summer 2021. As planned, the new substation near Atrisco Vista will help to accommodate the residential and commercial needs of the growing west side of Albuquerque. Commercial facilities in the vicinity include the big Shamrock Foods Warehouse at 1221 S. Renaissance Boulevard, as well as the Tempur-Pedic manufacturing plant at 12907 Tempur-Pedic Parkway NW. Earlier this year, online retail giant Amazon began work on the construction of a 450,000 square foot fulfillment center in that same area, a project that is expected to be completed by the fall of 2021. By Garry Boulard ![]() After talk that it might be demolished, a popular and historic Denver diner on the east side of the city may soon be extensively redeveloped. Located at 601 E. Colfax Avenue, Tom’s Diner has been a 24-hour eatery for generations of Denver residents. Last year the local institution was on the verge of extinction after the owner announced that he was selling the building. Tom Messina said he had received an offer from the Cleveland-based GBX Group, which said that it wanted to demolish the diner and replace it with a modern apartment complex. That announcement proved a rallying cry for Denver preservationists and others who called Tom’s Diner an architectural landmark. Opened in 1967, the restaurant was designed in the then-popular Googie style, which was particularly popular in the West during the first two decades following World War II. In subsequent negotiations, the GBX Group announced that it would preserve the diner after all, issuing a statement that it was dedicated to finding a “balance between economic realities and preserving a historically important property.” Now the effort to preserve and upgrade the diner has been joined by the Denver architectural firm Kephardt. In announcing the coming restoration plans for the diner, Kephardt project designer Josh Robinson said the restaurant “holds personal meaning for many of our staff, and our familiarity with the site and its history will allow us to preserve its unique character while helping craft a bright future for this Denver icon.” Plans for the project are expected to soon be reviewed by the Colorado Historical Foundation, before being submitted for final approval to both the city and county of Denver. By Garry Boulard ![]() While most other segments of the national construction industry have seen notable declines in activity since the COVID-19 outbreak, new warehouse projects remain a bright spot, say analysts. In a new report, the San Francisco-based real estate investment trust Prologis is reporting not only that the warehouse boom has remained strong for most of 2020, but that there is currently a need for at least 400 million square feet of new warehouse space in the next three years. The demand, continues the report, is reflective of both “higher e-commerce volumes and higher inventory levels.” One of the leading players in the field is online giant Amazon, which is enjoying record-breaking sales since the COVID-19 outbreak and needs new space to process hundreds of millions of customer orders. Just two months ago, the online retailer announced plans to build a 465,000 square foot multi-level fulfillment center in Albuquerque. The company is also in the process of planning for an additional similar-sized center in El Paso. But some of the new warehouse projects having nothing at all to do with Amazon. Earlier this spring, the Atlanta-based Stonemount Financial group announced it is building a 230,000 square foot industrial complex in McKinney, Texas that will include 125,000 square feet of warehouse space for a chemicals company based in Mexico. Work has already begun on the Elwood Logistics Center in Goodyear, Arizona, a 1.3 million square foot facility with warehouse space for anyone who wants it. Increasingly, new warehouse projects are not just cavernous buildings with a lot of space, but structures built for high-tech needs including the use of mobile robots, and filled with modern equipment, cables, and wires. “Even before the pandemic, the gradual drift of shopping online was making warehouses an attractive bet,” notes the Wall Street Journal. “Now these unglamorous sheds increasingly look like trophy assets.” By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans are advancing for the building of a new subdivision that will go up on the north side of Roswell on a site lined with pecan trees. What is being called the Aspen Estates is being developed by the Roswell-based real estate investment company JMCG, with the help of Smith Engineering, which also has offices in the city. Members of the Roswell Planning and Zoning Commission have now approved both the preliminary and final plat for the project located at N. Aspen Avenue and W. 27th Street. That site for years was officially called One McKay Place, a 10.5-acre estate fronted by a brick wall and iron gates opening to a distant mansion with 9 bathrooms, an indoor pool, and two wet bars. Despite the grandeur of that mansion, the site has perhaps always been most famous for the rows of large pecan trees on the north and south sides of the property. As approved by the commission, the site will be subdivided into half a dozen smaller lots measuring in size between 1.5 and 2 acres. Those smaller lots, according to a city documents, are in keeping with the size and shape of surrounding residential lots. Approved by the Roswell-Chaves County Extraterritorial Zoning Commission, the changed plat proposal must now also go before both the Roswell City Council as well as the Chaves County Board of Commissioners. In papers submitted to the zoning commission, it was noted that the dozens of pecan trees making up the former McKay estate would remain intact for the new subdivision project. By Garry Boulard |
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