Hispanic Americans continue to make up a growing part of the nation’s construction workforce, accounting for an overall gain in the last decade of 1.2 million workers. Those numbers have been compiled by the Silver Spring, Maryland-based CPWR - The Center for Construction Research and Training and show a growing participation rate in all sectors of the industry. Hispanic worker numbers are particularly strong as in the laboring sector at more than 715,000. The second largest representation is seen in the carpenter sector, at around 350,000; followed by painters at 250,000. The numbers continue to lag in leadership positions: Hispanics make up less than a quarter of the industry’s foremen, at 125,000, and construction managers at around 76,000. New Mexico leads the nation with more than 60% of its construction workforce made up of Hispanics, followed by Texas at nearly 59%, and California with 52.7%. While the leadership numbers may seem low, Hispanic construction firm ownership has nevertheless been on the rise, reports the National Hispanic Construction Association. That group has reported that there are today well over 4.6 million Hispanic-owned companies. In a larger context, Hispanic owners make up around 14% of all business in the country, making up a better than 40% growth rate in the last decade. Figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics this fall now put the total Hispanic workforce at 29 million, a steady climb from where it stood in 1990 at 10.7 million. The BLS further predicts that those numbers will climb to just under 36 million by the end of the decade. Age is a factor: According to BLS economist Kevin Dubina, Hispanic workers “tend to be younger and in the prime age working group, 25 to 54 years old. The median age of Hispanics in the labor force is 38.5 compared with 42.0 for the entire population.” By Garry Boulard
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Plans have been announced to turn a popular downtown Denver eatery into a new bank outlet. Located at 740 W. Colfax Avenue, the Denver Diner has been a restaurant mainstay in the city for more than 30 years. Earlier this year the diner’s owners, in a one-story story glass-wall structure built in the late 1960s and sitting on a 16,000-square-foot lot, announced it was closing its doors due to a decline in business partly attributable to the Covid-19 outbreak. Now the 3,600 square foot building has been sold for just under $4.9 million to New York-based JP Morgan Chase, which has, in turn, announced plans to reconfigure the space into a bank branch. Work on the structure, whose floor to ceiling windows in recent months have been boarded up, is expected to begin by no later than early next year, with a completion date of late 2022. Earlier this year, Chase announced plans to open some 400 new branches nationally by the fourth quarter of next year. Those new outlets are either newly built or the result of an existing building reconversion. By Garry Boulard The U.S. Senate is now in the process of reviewing legislation that will provide renewable energy credits, as well as funding for affordable housing. The measure, as passed by the House on a 220 to 213 vote, is officially called the Build Back Better Act. While the energy and affordable housing sections of the legislation have proven largely popular, the bill has sparked opposition due to other provisions dealing with childcare tax credits, expanded Medicare benefits, and expanded federal sick leave. Originally crafted with a more than $4 trillion price tag, the legislation, through weeks of negotiations with both House and Senate leaders, now comes in at $1.7 trillion. That figure, say Congressional experts, increases its chances for passage. The $500 billion in mostly renewable energy tax credits is said to be the largest-ever investment out of Washington in clean energy projects. The housing portion of the legislation calls for $150 billion to be used to build or improve one million affordable housing units across the country. It also includes $65 billion to tackle a growing backlog of public housing facility needs. Dubbed the “social infrastructure bill,” the legislation’s authors have said that expenditures in the legislation will be paid for through a combination of a 15% minimum tax on corporate profits, another 15% on those corporations’ foreign profits, and a 5% surcharge on all incomes above $10 million. An additional 3% surcharge would apply to incomes at or above the $25 million mark. In a Senate that has 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, with Vice-President Kamala Harris providing a tie-breaking vote, the outcome of the legislation remains uncertain. New Mexico Senate Martin Heinrich has called the Build Back Better Act a “game-changer for our country,” that will, among other things, “create climate careers and make the wealthy and corporations finally pay their fair share.” Colorado Senator Michal Bennett, also in a statement, remarked that the legislation comprises the “largest investment ever to fight climate change and protect America’s forests. It will make child care more affordable and preschool more available to millions of families across Colorado and the country.” Arizona Senate Krysten Sinema, however, has expressed concerns over the both the reach and cost of the legislation. Although earlier reports indicated that the Senate would take up the Build Back Better Act this week, Majority Leader Charles Schumer has indicated that that vote is more likely to come by mid-December. By Garry Boulard A 7,000 square foot building currently serving as the home to the long-running Deming Headlight newspaper is scheduled to be put up for auction in earlier December.
Located at 219 E. Maple Street, the one-story cement structure was built in 1980 and sits on a less than 1-acre site in downtown Deming. The building contains a front lobby-style space, several individual offices towards the center of the building, and a large rear production space that could be used as a warehouse. The Headlight was founded in the 1880s and was formerly owned by the Media News Group. In 2015 the paper was purchased by Gannett Company. As with the El Paso Times, which is also owned by Gannett, the Headlight is now printed at a production facility in Ciudad Juarez. That means that the printing press once a part of the Headlight building on Maple Street is no longer a part of the newspaper’s operations. A source has indicated that if the building is sold at auction, the newspaper’s operations will be moved elsewhere in Deming. The online auction for the Maple Street property will be held between December 6 and 8 via the site Ten-X.com. By Garry Boulard Very Big Denver Mixed-Use Project Announced by Company That Redeveloped the Union Station11/22/2021 What might be regarded as a long-awaited proposal has now been aired for transforming a 13-acre Denver parking lot into a massive residential community with substantial office and retail space.
The company East West Partners, which redeveloped the city’s historic Union Station, also has plans for open space at the site, and says the project will be designed to blend in with the surrounding Cherry Creek neighborhood. That neighborhood has through the years been carefully developed, mixing in new urban office and retail projects with historic 19th century residential structures. Uniquely, plans for the site also include the construction of an amphitheater with a 20,000-seat capacity. The property in question is located just to the west of the Cherry Creek Shopping Center near the intersection of S. University Boulevard and E. 1st Avenue, above the Cherry Creek waterway. Papers for what is expected to be a $1 billion project will be submitted to the City of Denver next month, launching what will likely be a lengthy review. East West officials have indicated that actual work on the project most likely won’t begin until late 2023, with a first phase construction schedule of 5 years. The company’s Union Station work, completed in 2014, is regarded as one of the greatest landmark projects in Denver history, seeing the restoration of the Beaux Arts-designed railway station built in 1914. By Garry Boulard Just under 12.5 acres in Woodland Park is set to see the construction of a new multi-family community with nearly 170 units. Woodland Park, which has seen its population jump from around 6,500 two decades ago to roughly 8,000 today, is a bedroom community that is part of the larger Colorado Springs metro area. What is being called Tamarac Parc will go up on a rectangular-shaped site along Colorado State Highway 67 near the Shining Mountain Golf Course. The project has now received the approval of the Woodland Park Planning Commission. As envisioned, it will see the building of 112 units in three separate buildings, as well as 55 townhouses. The project will include a 30-foot buffer between the site itself and Highway 67, and will also feature around 6.5 acres of open space that includes playground equipment and walking trails. The area for the project is densely wooded, with the developer promising to keep as many trees intact as possible. The project is now on its way to the Woodland Park City Council for final approval. By Garry Boulard Dams across the country are expected to see upgrade and improvement work beginning next year as a result of the recently passed $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. Some $3 billion in that legislation has been allotted to dam work, targeting specifically the tens of thousands of dams in the country that are 50 years or older. The legislation is also providing $585 million for repair work on dams regarded as hazardous, with $75 million going specifically for the dam removal. According to sources, roughly 15,600 dams in the U.S. are listed as a high-hazard structure. That number has more than doubled since the late 1990s. Funding to the tune of $7 million usually sent to the states from Washington through the Federal Emergency Management Agency is additionally being significantly increased by the legislation to around $148 million. According to a recent American Society of Civil Engineers report, roughly 70% of all dams in the country will have passed the 50-year mark by the end of this decade. “The high average age means that the majority of dams will not have been built to current standards, let alone incorporate newer standards that improve their resilience and reduce the risk to downstream areas,” notes the report. Officials note that dam funding from Washington won’t appear overnight, but instead will be available most likely beginning in either late 2022 or early 2023 due to the official beginning of the 2023 fiscal year on October 1. By Garry Boulard Despite some legal complications, the Santa Fe property that once belonged to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein remains listed for sale, with an asking price of $27.5 million. Earlier reports pegged the property’s worth at $17.2 million. The 8,000-acre ranch, which Epstein purchased in 1993, is located in the town of Stanley around 36 miles to the south of Santa Fe, and includes several structures, as well as a private landing airstrip, and main house with gym, library, and indoor pool. Proceeds from the sale of the ranch will go to Epstein’s estate which, in turn, will be used to compensate victims as well as creditors and tax authorities. Listed with Sotheby’s International Realty, the property has a main house measuring more than 33,000 square feet, not to mention a lodge and log cabin, and “stables, fire house and yurt.” According to a recent report in the publication U.S. Sun, the mansion additionally includes three large rooms that were once used to house computer and video equipment. Epstein committed suicide in August 2019 while awaiting trial on a series of sex trafficking charges. The Zorro Ranch mansion, with the exception of some on-site staff, has remained vacant ever since. Two other properties owned by Epstein in Florida and New York have since been sold, with some $140 million going to the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program created last year. Some reports have indicated that given the controversial nature of Epstein and the presumed activities that may have taken place at the Zorro Road mansion, a would-be buyer might demolish the nearly 30-year-old mansion itself, using the valuable land instead to build an entirely new structure That’s what happened to Epstein’s Palm Beach, Florida property, which was purchased earlier this year, and subsequently flattened by the new owner. By Garry Boulard In a response to both market conditions and demand, the country may be seeing more office space readaptations in the coming year, say several experts in a presentation sponsored by the National Association of Realtors. Noting that the traditional large office space classic to corporate life since the 1950s and earlier is changing, Turner Levison, chief executive officer of Commission Trac, forecasts a different kind of space that “fosters increased in-person and remote productivity while serving as the hub for enhanced culture.” Noting that a large proportion of today’s offices are currently underutilized, Levison also said that surveys show most people continue to believe that offices are needed. “Now, that’s not to say people still plan to go into the office five days a week like we used to,” he remarked. For that reason, Levison continued, vacant office space may represent unforeseen opportunities. Those empty offices, he said, could be used as variation of workspaces specifically designed to accommodate current tenant needs as well as future office desires. Earlier this summer, the Harvard Business Review suggested that companies may increasingly start looking at creating office space specific to their needs: “It’s possible that we’ll look back on the pre-pandemic workplace and think it was strange that offices were largely one-size-fits all.” While the focus in the 19 months since the Covid 19 outbreak has focused on finding new business uses for offices, a new study published by the National Association of Realtors is also exploring their potential as residential space. That report, called Analysis and Case Studies on Office-to-Housing Conversions, contends that 22 out of 27 metro areas heavily impacted by the pandemic, have “market conditions that make office-housing conversions feasible.” The report further tackles the basic economics of the current housing market, noting: “In the local markets, apartment rents are higher than office market rents, encouraging office-housing-conversions, mainly in Class B office buildings.” The report additionally notes that up to 43,500 new housing units could be created, using just 20% of existing vacant office space. By Garry Boulard El Paso or Southern New Mexico Booming Electric Company Soon to Announce Location of New Facility11/18/2021 Enjoying increased sales, the Schneider Electric company is on the verge of building a new and large production facility.
At this point, the company has not decided specifically where the plant will go up but is currently considering sites in both El Paso and Santa Teresa. Based in Rueil-Malmaison, France, Schneider manufactures energy and automation digital solutions for homes, buildings, and data centers, with an emphasis on panelboards, switchboards, and switchgears. The company, enjoying nearly $29 billion in annual revenue, has long had an El Paso presence, with a manufacturing facility up and running on the western side of the city at 1701 Northwestern Drive in the Northwest Corporate Center industrial park. Schneider moved into that nearly 113,000 square foot space nearly 3 years ago. It is expected that it will cost at least $20 million to build the new plant. The company has additionally announced plans to build two more facilities in metro Mexico City. Company officials will most likely announce the location for the new U.S. plant by the end of this year. By Garry Boulard |
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