![]() A City of El Paso purchase of a three-story cement building that for years has housed the printing presses of the El Paso Times is expected to be finalized later this year. Members of the El Paso City Council early last month gave their approval to acquiring the structure in downtown El Paso at 501 Mills Street for around $3.6 million, with the goal of turning it into new office space for the city. Sitting on a 2.2-acre site, the building’s official owners are the Texas-New Mexico Newspapers company, which has offices in Austin. The building has long been a vital mechanical part of the El Paso Times operation, daily putting out a paper delivered to all parts of metro El Paso, as well as Las Cruces and parts of northern Mexico. Founded in 1881, the El Paso Times is one of the largest daily papers in the southwest, second in circulation only to the Arizona Republic and Albuquerque Journal. Earlier this fall the Texas-New Mexico Newspaper company announced that it would begin printing the El Paso Times some 37 miles away and across the border in Ciudad Juarez. That Cuidad Juarez facility prints the El Diario de Juarez, the largest paper in that city. In making the announcement of the new printing location, Tim Archuleta, editor of the El Paso Times, said, “Our newsroom and advertising teams remain committed to serving our community as we make this adjustment.” The paper’s exit from its El Paso printing site prompted city officials to contemplate a new use for the 73,400 square foot building, which is located adjacent to the City Hall. City officials subsequently decided that a purchase of the structure to use for a variety of administrative offices made more sense than maintaining those offices at different locations, which is now the case. Nearly a decade ago, the city bought the former El Paso Times headquarters at 300 N. Campbell Street, across the street from the paper’s printing facilities, and subsequently repurposed the building into a new City Hall location. By Garry Boulard
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![]() National spending on sewerage and water disposal projects saw a healthy 4.3% increase in September, according to a new survey just issued by the Associated General Contractors. But that category increase as the country enters the final quarter of 2021 represented the only good news as spending on highway and street construction saw a 1.3% decline over last year, and public transportation construction was off by nearly 7%. “Spending on projects has been slowed by shortages of workers and materials, as well as extended or uncertain delivery times,” Ken Simonson, chief economist with the AGC, said in a statement explaining the lower numbers. “And the extreme rise in materials costs is likely to mean some infrastructure projects will no longer be affordable without additional funding,” Simonson noted, referencing the stalled infrastructure funding package currently in Congress. Additional segment declines were seen in public water supply projects, off by just under 1%, and conservation and development construction, down by a significant 19.5%. Commercial construction, long a gainer in the market, witnessed a 1.7% drop in September. This big category, which includes farm, retail, and warehouse structures, saw mixed results with an increase of 12% in warehouse projects offset by a 13.2% drop in retail projects. Spending on office projects, which has been mostly lagging throughout the months of the pandemic, was down by 9.2%, although that same sector has seen renewed activity in data center construction. By Garry Boulard A 3-year construction plan for the building of a new fiber network in metro Albuquerque has been announced by a telecommunications company based in Lubbock, Texas.
Vexus Fiber says it will spend upwards of $250 million to build a network designed to reach the entirety of the Duke City. The construction effort is expected to take around 3 years to fully complete, with some aspects of the network supporting service sometime next year. “We’re going to be building a faster network that is able to deliver increased speeds over traditional providers,” James Gleason, chief executive officer of the Vexus Fiber, said in an interview with the Albuquerque Journal. The new fiber optic cable is expected to mostly be built and installed in parts of the city that already have a combination of power and phone lines. In a statement, the company said that it expects to begin construction of the Albuquerque network early next year, targeting a completion date of 2024. Vexus Fiber, already operating in 25 cities, has additionally applied for a franchise license agreement for the construction of a fiber optic broadband network in Santa Fe. If the company’s proposal for New Mexico’s state capital city win approval, work there could launch by next spring with a completion date of no later than early 2025. By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans have been announced for the construction of a new gastropub in Glendale that will be part of a growing chain in the west. The latest Thirsty Lion restaurant, with two stories, is set to go up adjacent to the 223-acre Westgate Entertainment District and will be the latest of a chain of offerings located in Colorado, Oregon, and Texas. Concept Entertainment Group Hospitality, which is based in Scottsdale, says the new location will measure just under 10,000 square feet, with work most likely expected to begin next year. The Thirsty Lion brand is known for its multicultural cuisines ranging from pork carnitas tacos and Szechuan orange chicken, to braised pork belly ramen and grilled Atlantic salmon. The company currently has four outlets in Arizona; one in Colorado; two in Oregon; and two in Texas. The new Glendale location will also feature a two-story patio. Previous Thirsty Lion gastropubs vary in size, from a 2,800 square-foot location in Scottsdale, to the 7,700 square-foot Portland restaurant. If all goes well the Glendale restaurant is slated for completion by the end of 2022. Launched in Portland in 2011, the Thirsty Lion chain is known for its distinctive interior designs. “Each location is unique to its environment and features fire pits, multiple tv screens, outdoor patios and an industrial dining room,” notes the restaurant industry publication FSR. By Garry Boulard ![]() A 53-acre site adjacent to a baseball stadium in Phoenix, Arizona may be subject to future entertainment and retail development. A Request for Proposals has been issued for the site alongside the Camelback Ranch-Glendale stadium, located at 10712 W. Camelback Road. That stadium, opened in 2009, serves as the spring training home for both the Chicago White Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now the two teams, working through their joint venture company Camelback Spring Training LLC, have announced that they are looking for the development of a project that would be “compatible and complimentary” to the teams’ training facility. The RFP is also asking that any proposals include parking spaces for up to 2,500 vehicles. Sources have indicated that such a development could additionally include some residential space as well as a possible hotel. Because the stadium is leased by the City of Glendale, but owned by the City of Phoenix, any developments plans would have to first be approved by both cities. The RFP submission deadline is December 1. By Garry Boulard ![]() The heads of both the State Department and Commerce Department will meet early next year with their global counterparts in an effort to tackle the supply chain imbroglio. The White House has announced that State Secretary Antony Blinken, and Gina Raimondo, the head of the Commerce Department, will additionally bring together representatives from an array of interests including corporations and labor unions to look at what needs to be done to make the chain more resilient. The announcement comes after President Biden met with world leaders during a G20 meeting in Rome to discuss, in part, the supply chain matter. In a statement released by the White House after the global meeting it was announced that “secure, sustainable, and resilient global supply chains are foundational to our economic prosperity, national security, and collective interests.” Besides causing a lack of construction supplies, the ongoing supply chain problems are also seeing a shortage of semiconductors needed in automobiles, appliances, and smartphones, among other products. But in an interview with the CBS interview program Face the Nation, Raimondo indicated that the problem won’t be solved soon: “You can’t just turn the economy back on overnight,” the Secretary said in noting that some U.S. manufacturing plants had closed down during the pandemic. “It takes a little bit of time,” she continued. “I will say we are making progress.” To that end, Raimondo also said the Commerce Department is moving to incentivize the domestic production of semiconductors. During the Rome meeting, Biden remarked that his fellow heads of state were determined to make sure we have “access to all the product we need, from shoes to furniture to electronics to automobiles.” Biden also suggested financial aid may be in the offing for Southeast Asian nations to help them streamline their customs procedures, as well as Mexico and Central American countries in an effort to untangle logistical back-ups. By Garry Boulard ![]() Some of the largest and most popular public institutions in Denver could see significant upgrades depending upon the result of a bond to be decided in today’s election by local voters. Earlier this year Mayor Michael Hancock proposed a bond package carrying a $450 million price tag that was divided into five questions. One of those questions, appearing on the ballot as Question 2A would, if passed, commit $104 million for upgrade projects at the Denver Zoo, the city’s Botanic Gardens, the Mary Bonfils Stanton Theater, the Buell Theater, and the Museum of Science & Nature. Funding will also go for the construction of two facilities belonging to the Denver Public Library. Those new libraries would be built in what are described as the historically underserved communities of Globeville and Westwood neighborhoods. Other library work will see the building of new community spaces, technology labs, and children’s learning areas. The bond will additionally fund the long-planned expansion of the system’s Hampden Branch Library, located at 9755 E. Girard Avenue on the southeast side of the city. Improvements to the Youth Empowerment Center building at 1240 W. Bayaud Avenue, as well as general upgrades to city buildings to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, will additionally be funded by the bond. The proposal has won the support of the Associated General Contractors of Colorado and the Downtown Denver Partnership, among other groups. By Garry Boulard ![]() Thousands of already underway highway projects are expected to receive full funding for at least another month now that President Biden has given his approval to a short-term funding extension bill. Biden approved the legislation after an overwhelming House vote of 358 to 59. Members of the Senate gave their approval to the measure by unanimous consent. A failure to enact the funding legislation would have meant that up to $50 billion in federal surface transportation programs, that are also combined with state projects, would have been halted. The legislation, however, provides only temporary funding for the Highway Trust Fund, which was established in 1956 to provide financial support for any number of highway construction and upgrading projects across the country. The fund survives on a federal fuel tax of 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel fuel. Exactly a month ago Congress approved similar legislation authorizing a funding extension for the program. Altogether, Congress has extended funding well over a dozen times in the last decade. According to statistics compiled by the Associated Builders and Contractors, revenue for the fund earlier this spring was down by some 49% over the year before, due to a reduction in traffic during the pandemic. The ongoing precarious nature of the Highway Trust Fund has prompted the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials to push for passage of Biden’s $1.3 trillion infrastructure bill, which includes funding for all modes of transportation projects nationally. In a statement, Jim Tymon, executive director of AASHTO, said the members of his group “need certainty to plan transportation projects to meet the needs of their communities and keep our economy moving.” In an open letter to his colleagues, House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio said extended funding of the program will give legislators “additional time to work through the final resolution of a long-term surface transportation bill.” This latest extension is set to expire on December 3. By Garry Boulard A school district in the northeastern New Mexico village of Des Moines may see work beginning next year on a series of facility construction and upgrade projects.
But first district voters in the November election must approve a proposed $2.1 million bond to fund the work. According to the ballot language officially approved earlier this year by members of the Des Moines school board, the $2.1 million will more specifically go for “making additions to and furnishing school buildings, including teacher housing,” and generally improving school grounds. Des Moines has a current population of less than 200 people. With students in grades pre-kindergarten, and kindergarten through 12th, the district currently has both a high school and elementary school. Officials, however, have said that they would like to build a single facility for all grades. According to news sources, Damon Brown, president of the school board for the Des Moines district, said the single school idea is the result of several studies appraising the condition of the district’s current school facilities. By Garry Boulard ![]() The City of Phoenix has issued a Request for Information regarding possible future facility development on some 40 acres of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport land. The site in question is located between South 24th Street to the west and the existing Honeywell Facilities to the east at 1944 E. Sky Harbor Circle. Airport officials have contemplated the construction of a number of new facilities at the site, including the building of new warehouse space for air cargo operations, as well as “non-commercial facilities” such as aircraft storage. According to city documents, the purpose of the RFI is to “obtain information, ideas, comments and feedback from qualified developers and aviation related businesses” who may be interested in establishing new services at the big airport. Those endeavors could include everything from general aeronautical support facilities, air cargo structures, and “any other on-airport aviation related development and aeronautical services.” The Sky Harbor International Airport, serving roughly 22 million passengers last year, is the eighth largest airport in the country and the 24th largest in the world. Work is currently underway on expansion of the airport’s Terminal 4; a $310 million project that is expected to be completed next summer. The RFI has a submission deadline of December 17. By Garry Boulard |
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