![]() Plans are now in the works for the construction of a 1.2 million square foot manufacturing center in Denver that will belong to carbonated beverage giant PepsiCo. The plant will go up on the northeast side of Denver not far from the intersection of E. 72nd Avenue and Argonne Street. The 152-acre site in question was earlier purchased by PepsiCo Beverages North America. In a move designed to keep Pepsi in the Mile High City, members of the Denver City Council voted to approve up to $1 million in incentives in support of the project, which will be the largest PepsiCo Beverages North America facility of its kind in the country. The company, which has had a long presence in Denver, will cease operations at its current 65-year-old plant located at 3801 Brighton Boulevard in the city’s River North Art District. If all goes according to plans, the new Pepsi plant will be completed and beginning operations sometime in the summer of 2023. Founded as Brad’s Drink in 1893 in New Bern, North Carolina, the company became Pepsi-Cola in 1898, a name that was shorted in 1961 to Pepsi. With annual revenue in excess of $80 billion, the company also produces such popular labels as Gatorade, Rockstar, and Muscle Milk. Pepsi has had a production presence in Colorado since 1936. Last year the company opened a 283,000 square foot warehouse in Denver near West 56th Avenue and Pecos Street. By Garry Boulard
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![]() The long-standing Cavern City Airport in Carlsbad, New Mexico is slated to receive some $3.2 million in federal funding for a runway reconstruction project. Located roughly 6 miles to the southwest of downtown Carlsbad, the airport was originally established during World War II as the Carlsbad Army Airfield. Served by one commercial airline, the airport, which has four runways and five taxiways, saw its passenger boarding numbers increase from 2014 with just under 1,500 to 5,200 just before the Covid-19 outbreak. The federal funding is coming through the Department of Transportation’s competitive Airport Improvement Program, designed to support airport infrastructure upgrade projects across the country. The runway project for the Cavern City Airport is primarily designed to maintain the structural integrity of its pavement. In announcing funding for the Carlsbad project, New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich remarked that “airports like Cavern City Air Terminal strengthen New Mexico’s connection to tourism, commercial aviation, and business opportunities across the state.” By Garry Boulard ![]() A comprehensive federal Department of Transportation program designed to spur transformative infrastructure projects in disadvantaged communities is set to launch this fall. What is being called the Thriving Communities Initiative will offer hands-on planning support making it possible for local officials, community partners, and transportation officials in high poverty communities to access support for the building of housing and transportation projects. To that end, the Transportation Department has just issued a Request for Information, asking for input from stakeholders most impacted by the program itself, as part of a process to connect federal funds with needed housing and transportation projects. “It is critical that we ensure disadvantaged communities can access those funds,” Polly Trottenberg, Deputy Secretary of Transportation, remarked in a statement, noting that all funding for the effort is coming through the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. A separate press release from the DOT notes that “not every community has the same ability to leverage this once-in-a-generation investment.” More to the point, many Tribal and rural communities have often lacked the resources needed to access the very programs geared to facilitate local and federally funded housing and transportation projects. Congress has appropriated some $25 million for the Thriving Communities program, with another $5 million thrown in by federal Housing and Urban Development program. Specific awards to local governments under the program are expected to be announced later this year. By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans are underway for the construction of a new housing complex on some 3 acres in downtown Phoenix. The project will go up on a four-acre site at the northwest corner of 4th Avenue near Olson Road in a part of the city populated with retail and office structures built in the 1960s and 70s. The project belongs to Subtext Living, which is based in St. Louis and specializes in both multifamily and student housing. Papers for the project submitted to the City of Phoenix are calling for a complex with just under 390 rental units in a single 6-story structure. As proposed, the development will offer units ranging in size from studios to three-bedroom, measuring anywhere from 600 square feet to 1,600 square feet. Additional features will include a landscaped pedestrian throughfare and a dog park. According to city documents, building materials for the project include masonry, stucco, glazing, and “several frontage types.” As designed by the Minneapolis-based ESG Architecture & Design, the project will also be built to appear compatible with the surrounding area via architectural detailing featuring a “variety of colors and materials that are respectful of and pay homage to the midcentury modern design vernacular of other nearby developments.” Subtext Living was founded in 2013 and currently has up to $1.4 billion in residential projects in the pipeline. Its student housing projects are primarily located in the Midwest, although last year it completed an 827-bed project in Tempe. The company currently has multi-family projects in development in Arizona, Colorado, Tennessee, and Utah. ![]() New facilities belonging to space travel giant Virgin Galactic Holdings are expected to soon see construction in the southern New Mexico city of Truth or Consequences. The company founded by billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson has announced that it wants to build new training facilities, as well as dining space and a wellness center that will be available for the exclusive use of Virgin Galactic astronauts. The company has long been a presence in Truth or Consequences, with a 110,000 square foot terminal located on the 18,000-acre site of Spaceport America, the nation’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport. The new facilities, which, according to reports, will also include an observatory, will be built on land Virgin Galactic has already purchased. Announcement of the new facilities comes just weeks after the company signed a long-term lease for a new final assembly manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona. According to a Virgin Galactic press release, the new Truth or Consequences facilities will emphasize “sustainability and minimal impact to the surrounding environment,” embracing water conservation and re-use, as well as eco-friendly building materials. In a statement, Blair Rich, Virgin Galactic president, said the new facilities will allow astronauts to “stay and train here, along with their guests, for five nights.” Conceptual design of the new facilities is already underway, although a schedule of when construction will begin has not yet been announced. By Garry Boulard ![]() In one of the most convincing signs yet that the national economy is recovering from the Covid-19 economic doldrums, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is reporting that more that more than 528,000 new jobs were created in July. The number is the largest single-month gain since the onset of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, fueling an unemployment rate of 3.5%, that is now also the lowest recorded since February 2020. The job gains were seen in a broad swath of sectors, especially in the areas of health care, with 122,000 new jobs; and the hospitality industry, up by 74,000 additional jobs. Construction employment, meanwhile, saw a gain of 32,000 new jobs, with specialty contractors adding 22,000 jobs. The BLS also noted that “transportation and warehousing added 21,000 jobs in July.” The report added: “Employment in transportation and warehousing is 745,000 above its February 2020 level.” The job numbers offer a counter narrative to stories emphasizing the recessionary nature of this summer’s economy. The Washington Post called the 528,000 new jobs a “stunning figure that reflects an economy well recovered from the pandemic.” The Wall Street Journal said the new jobs are serving to help the economy “recoup the 22 million positions lost early in the pandemic as hirers clamored for workers despite a slowdown in economic growth.” In a statement from the White House, President Biden said that not only are there more people working today than during the recession, “there are more people working in America than any point in American history.” By Garry Boulard ![]() A smartly designed building in Phoenix housing a popular car wash chain outlet is on the market for $5.3 million. The one-story structure is located at 1702 North 44th Street, some six miles to the east of downtown Phoenix, and measures around 6,100 square feet. Built in 2009, the structure is the home to the True Blue Car Wash and sits on a 1.1-acre site on a busy street populated with retail and office buildings. With its headquarters in Scottsdale, the True Blue Car Wash is part of a chain offering monthly memberships for car owners, and specializing in such services as ceramic coating, hot waxing, and tire and wheel scrubbing. The company has locations throughout Arizona and has been praised for the unconventional, edgy design of its buildings. The structure is listed with the Newport Beach, California-based SRS Real Estate Partners. By Garry Boulard ![]() Funding has been approved for the construction of an 80-room hotel and restaurant in Shiprock, New Mexico that will belong to the Navajo Nation. The project, which will go up to the north of U.S. Highway 64 and west of U.S Highway 491, has been in the talking and planning stage for several years. The Navajo Nation Council has given the green light to appropriating $11.4 million to build the facilities. The money will be going to the Navajo Nation Hospitality Enterprise to complete the project. Established in 1982, the Navajo Nation Hospitality Enterprise is tasked with establishing and maintaining hospitality projects for the Navajo Nation. Although an exact timetable for when work on the project will begin, it is thought that it will take at least two years to build. In a statement, Eugenia Charles-Newtown, a member and leader in the Navajo Nation Council, said the hotel will “offer a place to stay for the thousands of tourists visiting parks and monuments in the Four Corners region each year.” By Garry Boulard ![]() The one-time Build Back Better legislation, now billed as the Inflation Reduction Act, appears to be on the verge of passage. The 725-page legislation, according to a fact sheet released by the office of Majority Leader Charles Schumer, would empower Medicare drug price negotiations and extend federal premium subsidies under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The centerpiece of the legislation calls for reducing green house gas emissions in the U.S. by 40% in the next seven years, while also extending tax credits for the purchase of electric cars. Reduced from the big Build Back Better bill, which started out last year with a $3.5 trillion price tag, the new legislation is expected to cost around $500 billion. The cost differences between the two bills are due to a number of initiatives originally proposed in the Build Back Better legislation that have since been discarded. One of the biggest priorities left behind is a proposal to spend upwards of $25 billion on the building or upgrading of affordable housing across the country. That proposal would have also provided $65 billion to tackle a backlog of public housing capital repairs. Chances for passage of the new legislation substantially improved with the stated public support of West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who had earlier opposed the Build Back Better bill, as well as Arizona Senate Krysten Sinema. Sinema had earlier said she was opposed to one part of the new legislation that would close a tax loophole allowing interest to be taxed as a capital gain, rather than income. That provision, according to late-breaking reports, may have since been altered. In a statement, Sinema additionally noted that she had helped to secure changes in the bill that will “protect advanced manufacturing and boost our clean energy economy.” Various groups have been lining up to support or oppose the bill, which is most likely the last major piece of legislation that will be tackled by Congress before the November elections. Liz Schuler, president of the ALF-CIO, characterized the legislation as offering “real help for working families.” Proposing changes in the nation’s tax code, Schuler continued, “will deliver fundamental economic change in our nation.” In a statement, Jerry Kontner, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, said the bill contains changes to the taxation of real estate that will “raise housing costs for millions of consumers while doing very little to provide meaningful energy savings.” By Garry Boulard ![]() One of the grand turn-of-the-century federal structures of southern Colorado is scheduled to go to auction on September 6 with a starting bid of $650,000. Located at 421 N. Main Street in downtown Pueblo, what is known simply as the Historic Federal Building was built in 1897 and provided space for a post office, federal court, and U.S. Marshall’s office. Designed by William Aiken, who for years served as the Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury and was the architect for the U.S. Mint building in Denver, the four-story building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and measures just over 72,400 square feet. Preservationists and architectural historians have long lauded the Italian-Renaissance design of the structure. The building includes marble walls and floors, limestone architectural carvings, and crystal chandeliers in the former courtroom. As more and more federal agencies moved their offices out of the structure, it was purchased in 1996 by a private investor. Listing agent for the building is the realtors Remax Commercial of Pueblo. By Garry Boulard |
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