Work could begin early next year on the construction of a large high school in southeast Arizona. As planned, the new Pima High School will go up on a 40-acre site off U.S. Route 70 and will measure around 60,000 square feet. Although an exact construction schedule for the project has not yet been announced, members of the Pima Unified School District board have given their approval to selecting SPS+ Architects, which has offices in Tucson and Scottsdale, to design the facility. The new school, which will be built to house at least 500 students, will replace the current more than 80-year-old Pima High School located at 38 E. 200. District officials have said that the existing building is not up to current code standards and has had some wiring issues. It is expected that it will cost just over $22 million to build the school, which will also include new baseball, football, soccer, and softball fields. If all goes as planned, the new school will be completed and ready for students in time for the fall 2025 semester. By Garry Boulard
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The big General Services Administration is now the recipient of just under $3.4 billion in federal funding to be used for low-carbon materials in construction projects. That funding is folded into the just-approved Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and centers on incentives in the construction of both government-owned structures, as well as public infrastructure projects. Altogether, the legislation comes with a $485 billion price tag, and is primarily concerned with both reducing inflation and countering climate change challenges. Through Congressional negotiations, the legislation, signed into law by President Biden, was reduced from the $550 billion originally proposed in early 2021. The bill, additionally mandating lower drug prices among other goals, aims to decrease the country’s carbon footprint by the end of the decade by some 40%. The General Services Administration currently owns more than 1,500 buildings across the country. In a statement, Robin Carnahan, administrator of the agency, said the GSA “looks forward to working with our partners in government and industry to seize this once-in-a generation opportunity to move the federal government forward to a cleaner, greener future that will provide better value for taxpayers and a healthier planet for the next generation.” Low-carbon materials can include everything from green ceramic tiles to low carbon bricks and any variety of recycled metals for building purposes. GSA facilities, located across the country, include court houses, office buildings, data processing centers and post offices. The GSA is also receiving $250 million in an effort to convert more of its structures into High Performance Buildings. Such buildings have at least a 23% lower energy use and 28% lower water use than the average GSA structure. Tying in with projects funded by the recent Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the legislation also promotes utilizing low-carbon materials for Federal Highway Administration projects in the form of Low-Carbon Transportation Grants with a total value of $2 billion. By Garry Boulard A historic four-story brick structure known as the Sweeny Feed Mill building is up for sale in downtown Pueblo, Colorado, with an asking price of $800,000. Located at 403 E. 4th Street, the structure was built in 1915 and comprises nearly 11,400 square feet. Listed in 2008 with the nonprofit Historic Pueblo as a place of historic significance, the building sits on a half-acre site and features large open warehouse space with massive wooden support beams, a freight elevator, and heavy masonry construction. The Sweeny Feed Mill company operated in the structure from the late 1950s to 2018, selling pet and livestock feed. and is representative of what was once a dominant grain processing industry in south central Colorado. The property, located less than a block to the west of the Fountain Creek, is being listed with the Pueblo-based Rocky Mountain Realty. By Garry Boulard A five-day auction is set to begin on Thursday designed to sell just over 40 properties belonging to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. The auction will be the third in a series of offerings set to raise funds for the archdiocese as a means of paying off a significant slice of a $121.5 million sexual assault settlement. Some 4 years ago the archdiocese entered Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings responding to claims of sexual assaults by priests over the decades on hundreds of parishioners. The final auction will see properties located in the counties of Colfax, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, Taos, Torrance, Union, and Valencia up for bid. The properties in question are nearly all unimproved lots, except for the former historic Maxwell Mission in Colfax County. The proceedings, as conducted by SVN Auction Services of Boynton Beach, Florida, could bring in anywhere between $500,000 to $1 million, on top of the $3 million already raised through the two previous auctions. Earlier this spring, the Most Reverend John Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe, released a statement noting that the total settlement amount with be funded by “the archdiocese, the parishes within the diocese, other Catholic entities, and the archdiocese’s insurance carriers.” By Garry Boulard More and more lab space has been scooped up for occupancy during the second quarter of this year, according to a new report released by the real estate analysis service CRBE. Looking at activity in the dozen largest life sciences hubs across the country, the report notes that the overall vacancy rate for such lab spaces has marginally decreased from 5.3% in the spring of 2021 to 5.2% this spring. At the same time, the average rents in those same markets saw an increase of 5.8%. Comparing statistics from the first to the second quarter of this year, just over 29 million square feet of lab space was under construction compared to 31.3 million square feet from April to June. The Boston/Cambridge metro area is seeing the most new-built lab space at just under 15 million square feet. Other projects are located primarily along either the East Coast or West Coast, although the Denver/Boulder area is particularly prominent in the Central West, seeing just over 616,000 square feet under construction. The report added that the nation’s largest pharmaceutical companies were buying up most of the lab space across the country. In a statement accompanying the report, Matt Gardner, Americas Life Sciences Leader for CRBE, noted that the “life sciences sector is buttressed by more fundamental, long-term shifts than most industries, such as advances in science and technology, expanding uses for biotechnology, and the long-term trend toward more individualized treatment.” By Garry Boulard Work could begin this fall on the construction of a 919,000 square foot facility in Aurora, Colorado that will serve as a distribution center for the store chain Dollar General. The project will go up on the eastern side of the High Point Elevated, a business park located at E. 64th Avenue and the access toll road Colorado E-470. It is expected that the company, which is based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, will spend upwards of $172 million to build the new facility. In a significant investment, Dollar General has said it will build two other distribution centers, for a combined square footage of around 3 million square feet and total price tag of $480 million. The other centers are planned for North Little Rock, Arkansas, and Salem, Oregon. Founded as a family-owned business in 1939, Dollar General today has more than 18,300 stores and saw revenues last year in excess of $26.3 billion. The three new centers, said Tony Zuazo, global supply chain executive vice president, will combine the efficiencies of its DG Fresh initiative, incorporating frozen and refrigerated goods, along with the company’s “traditional supply chain.” Earlier this year Dollar General announced plans to open just over 1,100 new stores, while remodeling another 1,750 existing outlets. Roughly 800 of the new stores will measure 8,500 square feet. The typical Dollar General location is around 7,400 square feet. The new Aurora center is expected to be completed by late 2023. By Garry Boulard A battle between community activists and the City of El Paso regarding where a proposed multicultural performing arts center should be built has been protracted, having started when the project was first announced in the fall of 2016. But now an El Paso publication has documented that the battle has also been expensive, contending that to date the city has had to pay $3.3 million in legal fees. “The costs will continue to climb as litigation continues,” reports El Paso Matters in documenting the various lawyers’ fees surrounding the battle. And because the matter, in terms of a final determination regarding where the area will at last be built, is ongoing, the legal fees are expected to continue. “There is no cap on the legal costs,” notes the publication. It was originally determined by the city that the new $180 million arena would be built where the Duranguito neighborhood currently stands. But preservationists, resident, and others filed a series of suits to stop the project, arguing that the section of the city in question dates to the mid-19th century and for historic reasons should be saved. Although city officials earlier this year said they would entertain proposals to have the arena built at another site, no such determination has yet been made. By Garry Boulard Seven of the nation’s most expensive real estate markets are now located in the West, a list that includes booming Boulder, Colorado. According to a new survey released by the National Association of Realtors, property in some areas of the country is now at a record-breaking level, although home sales slumped in the second quarter of this year The ten most expensive markets nationally had home prices ranging from $722,000 to $1.9 million, with Boulder near the middle of that list at $933,000. Five of the most expensive markets were located in various metro areas of California, with prices running the gamut from $825,000 to $1.9 million. The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area came in at just under $819,000. Overall, according to the NAR survey, the national median single-family home price from April to June of this year stood at $413,500. That’s the first time in the association’s record keeping that that figure surpassed the $400,000 mark. Meanwhile, a majority of the markets studied in the survey saw also double-digit increases over the first quarter of this year. In a statement, Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the NAR, said, “Home prices have increased at a pace that far exceeds wage gains, especially for low- and middle-income workers.” Even so, Yun predicted that recent decreases in mortgage rates should have the effect of bringing “additional buyers to market, especially in those places where home prices are still relatively affordable and where jobs are being added.” Regionally, the South saw an 18.2% increase in single family home sales this spring and early summer, followed by the West at 12.7%; the Northeast at 10.1%, and the Midwest, which has been lagging in recent surveys, at 9.7%. By Garry Boulard Plans are moving forward for the construction of a massive surf and water park in Maricopa, Arizona that will feature lagoons and a variety of entertainment options on a vast 71-acre site. It will be developed by the company PHX Surf LLC, which is based in Mesa, and will also see the building of an 80-room hotel, and a combination of retail and restaurant space encompassing some 31,000 square feet. As envisioned, the project will go on vacant land up to the west of North Loma Road and south of Arizona State Route 238. Uniquely, according to the most recent plans for the project, the site will also see the construction of 42 one- and two-bedroom surf villas. The project has been in the planning and talking stage for well over a year and supported by city leaders. Last year, then-Mayor Christian Price described the surf and water park as Maricopa’s “first dabble into the tourism industry.” Price added: “We don’t have a Grand Canyon; we don’t have a snow-capped mountain that people come to, so we have to get creative.” According to a recent Planned Area Development application submitted to the city, the project will center on the building of two surf lagoons measuring around 5 acres each. Up to 11 acres of parking space will be built at the site, accessed by a primary entrance road off State Route 238. An exact construction schedule for the project remains to be released. By Garry Boulard A plan is underway to convert one of the oldest hotel properties in Colorado into new apartment housing. Located at 4 S. Cascade Avenue, the 273-room Antlers Hotel was built in early 1967, but its antecedent operation stretches back all the way to the early 1880s when industrialist William Jackson Palmer built the first version of the inn in the center of downtown Colorado Springs. That hotel became known for its classic architecture and elegant rooms, but mostly for the large deer and elk racks installed primarily in the building’s lobby. A fire destroyed that structure in the fall of 1898, leading to the construction of a second Italian Renaissance-designed hotel in 1901, regarded by tour guides as one of the finest hotels in the West. That building was demolished in the mid-1960s to make way for the third version of the Antlers, which through the decades has had several owners, but has most recently been branded as a Wyndham Hotel. Now, a plan submitted to the City of Colorado Springs is calling for a drastic repurposing of the 14-floor structure seeing the 273 hotel rooms downsized to 166 apartment units. If so developed, the building would be known as the XO Lofts@Antlers. The project has been proposed by a Thornton-based investment group, but not yet officially sanctioned by the owners of the hotel, who purchased the property for nearly $22 million some seven years ago. If the project advances, the building will also see the construction of a fitness facility, collaborative workspaces, restaurants, and both indoor and outdoor swimming pools. William Jackson Palmer, who served as a Union general during the Civil War, not only built the first Antlers Hotel, he is also the founder of the city of Colorado Springs itself. By Garry Boulard |
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