Arizona State University Secures Big Federal Funding for Innovative Technical Hub Facility9/28/2023 ![]() New federal funding is expected to greatly accelerate a move on behalf of Arizona State University to build a comprehensive, high-tech microelectronics hub. The Department of Defense has announced that it is awarding the $39.8 million in funding for the construction of what is being called the "Southeast Advanced Prototyping Hub." The facility, according to ASU sources, will be designed to house the latest research in such areas as cellular communications, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence hardware. In a statement, ASU President Michael Crow said the new hub will be the "first major national security-oriented research and development laboratory ever built in the state of Arizona." The project is one of eight such hubs slated to be built on the campuses of eight different institutions of higher learning across the country, with the research at each hub devoted to advancing the Defense Department's technical capabilities. The hubs, said Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, "will tackle many challenges relevant to the Department of Defense's missions, to get the most cutting-edge microchips into systems our troops use every day." Among those systems, continued Hicks, are "ships, planes, tanks, long-range munitions, communications gear, sensors and much more." Roughly $238 million in funding for the hubs projects is coming out the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act, which was passed by Congress last summer. Arizona State University was always thought to be in the running for Defense Department hub funding, both because of its reputation as a cutting-edge research institute and its location. Earlier this year, Sally Morton, executive vice president of the school's Knowledge Enterprise program, remarked during a campus workshop that the Southwest is "already one of the nation's key centers for microelectronics activity." "It's home to some of the leading semiconductor producers and suppliers, major defense contractors, world-class universities and research institutes, and a vibrant startup community," added Morton. By Garry Boulard
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![]() Colorado Springs may soon see the construction of a new mixed-use development on the west side of the city. The project belongs to the development company Mesa Land 1031 LLC and will see the transformation of a 29-acre site at the southeast corner of Centennial Boulevard and West Fillmore Street. In rezoning plans now approved by members of the Colorado Springs City Council, the project is calling for a combination of multi-family housing and office space on some 13 acres of the site; with 8 acres left open for open space; and 7.7 acres for the construction of a church. The project will go up just to the east of the Floyd K. Lindstrom Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic in the 3100 block of Centennial Boulevard. In studying the rezoning request, councilman Brian Risley voiced his approval of a what is officially regarded as an infill project: "What I see now is an empty lot that isn't serving our city in any form or fashion," he remarked. Last month a staff report submitted to the City Planning Commission determined that a rezoning of the property in question is "compatible with the surrounding mix of uses which consists of commercial, office, medical office, single family and multi-family." To be built in the Mesa Highlands section of Colorado Springs, the official final development plans for the project now need to go before the Planning Commission, with yet another city council meeting casting a final vote on the matter. By Garry Boulard ![]() Nearly 1,700 individual infrastructure projects, with a cumulative funding value of around $13 billion, have been undertaken as part of the massive Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. According to a new tracking service offered by the National League of Cities roughly 41% of all of the funded projects have centered on road and bridge work, with a significantly smaller 14% going for airport facility work. Another 13% of the funded projects have centered on clean energy endeavors, while 7% have gone to public transportation work. In a statement, Clarence Anthony, chief executive officer of the NLC, said that even though his organization has for years lobbied for greater federal infrastructure project funding, it has only been recently that “we’re now seeing that work become reality.” The NLC tracking service also shows that just under 8% of federal funding has gone for environmental remediation projects, with a smaller 7.1% targeting safety projects. The group’s tracking also shows the regional disbursement of funded projects, with the Midwest overwhelmingly, at 17%, receiving the most support for road and bridge projects. The amount of funding going to projects in the Northeast, South, and West has varied between 7% and 9%. Arizona has received funding for more than two dozen individual projects, with the largest being the $25 million for road and bridge work undertaken by the City of Phoenix. Colorado has received funding for just over 40 projects, with $60 million going to a Denver International Airport terminal project. Two dozen projects to date have received funding in New Mexico. Largest for the Land of Enchantment: $25 million for the building of the Uptown Connect transit plaza in Albuquerque. By Garry Boulard ![]() A high-rise hotel proposal that has been in the talking and planning stage for around 5 years may soon become reality in downtown Phoenix. The Scottsdale-based company Sunbelt Holdings wants to build what will be called The Edith at the intersection of Central Avenue and Adams Street. At an estimated cost of $140 million, the 17-story project will include 236 luxury rooms and 14 suites, along with some 23,000 square feet of meeting space. Early reports indicate that The Edith will also feature a rooftop pool and bar, fitness center, and ground-floor restaurant and café space. Sunbelt Holdings is taking on the project in conjunction with BB Hotels & Resorts, also of Scottsdale. The global firm of Gensler, which has offices in Phoenix, has signed on as project architect. The project was initially proposed and subsequently approved by the Phoenix City Council in 2018 but was delayed due to the Covid 29 outbreak and concerns regarding the durability of the local hospitality industry. Now, two years since the pandemic’s decline in the fall of 2021, the interested parties have decided that there is indeed a market in Phoenix for a new and significantly large hotel. Although an exact start date for construction has not yet been announced, reports have indicated that the hotel is expected to be open for business by late 2025. The site for the project has in recent years served as a parking lot, but was formerly the home to Switzer’s Style Shop, the first retailer in Phoenix history to specialize in women’s clothing. After the store, eventually part of a chain, was sold to a national clothing company, the building was demolished. Launched in 1979, Sunbelt Holdings has a diverse portfolio that includes residential, commercial, and mixed-use projects. The company spearheaded the Marina Heights project in Tempe in 2015, thought to be the largest single tenant office development of its kind in Arizona history. By Garry Boulard ![]() The next step has been taken in development of what is expected to be the largest affordable housing project in the history of Aspen, Colorado. What is being officially called the Aspen Lumberyard project will see the building of 277 affordable homes built within an 11-acre pedestrian-friendly village setting off Colorado State Highway 82, near the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport. The project, which has been long in the talking and planning stage and the subject of a number of public input meetings, places an emphasis on green space, tree-lined sidewalks, and bike paths. That emphasis allows the project to align with a climate action plan adopted by the City of Aspen in 2017, which has a stated goal of reducing emissions in the city by upwards of 80% in the next three decades. In a posting discussing the project, Randy Rhoads, the executive director of affordable housing for Cushing Terrell, the planning firm working on the Lumberyard site, said the project’s sustainability emphasis illustrates that it is “possible to achieve these ambitious goals in affordable housing,” while creating “a path to follow for other projects.” Expected to cost around $450 million to build, the Lumberyard project will feature one-, two-, and three-bedroom units. Those units will be housed in three separate buildings. The buildings will additionally feature balconies and ground-level front stoops. Members of the Aspen City Council have now given their approval to a measure designed to attract a developer and partner to help get the project built. The project is especially geared for working wage residents living in Aspen who cannot afford the city’s rents: according to a recent Zumper site survey, the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the west central Colorado city is now at around $7,000. By Garry Boulard ![]() In a time when rising insurance costs are impacting home building projects across the country, a non-profit group focusing on climate issues is forecasting a significant increase in rates within states most prone to natural disasters. According to the Insurance Issue report issued by the New York-based First Street Foundation, some 39 million properties, or around 25% of all homes in the country, are currently underpriced due to not taking into account probable climate risk insurance increases. The report notes that just under 24 million properties are currently subject to rising rates due to the risk of wind damage, while 12 million are facing the same issue because of possible flood damage. A smaller 4.4 million properties, primarily in the West, could see an increase in rates as a result of wildfires. The report also estimates that up to 34,000 homes by the year 2050 will burn down on an annual basis due to wildfires. Noting that some states have enacted policies suppressing insurance prices, the report notes “the insurance industry is limiting and withdrawing coverage in high-risk wildfire areas due to state regulatory policies, increasing risk from climate change, and recent economic shifts.” Result? Many insurance companies are effectively labeling some areas of the country as uninsurable, with state-backed “insurers of last resort” often becoming the only alternative for homeowners. “Without the ability to insure properties in high-risk areas with relatively affordable policies, homeowners will not be able to afford the cost of ownership associated with homes in those areas and property values will deflate," says the report. This isn’t just idle forecasting: in California, insurance rates have risen by nearly 800% for homes in areas subject to wildfire, while significant increases have also been seen related to properties in the southeastern portion of Louisiana near flood-prone New Orleans where rates last year went up by 27%. That the economic impact of wildfires is growing is seen in two statistics: according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, wildfires cost around $8 billion in losses between 2012 and 2016. Between 2018 and 2021, that figure had risen to $79.8 billion. By Garry Boulard ![]() A move is underway to repurpose a former public school building in El Paso, with part of the structure and site being used as a new migrant shelter, and the other part given over to an animal shelter. The building is the one-time Morehead Middle School at 5625 Confetti Drive, some 5 miles to the northwest of downtown El Paso. That school, a part of the El Paso Independent School District, was closed more than a year ago after its students were transferred to a just-built structure elsewhere in the district. Since then, city officials, worried about an increase in migration numbers, have been looking at the one-story brick building as a possible temporary shelter facility. Now, in a unanimous vote, members of the El Paso City Council have approved a proposal to buy the facility from the district for $3.8 million. That action followed a vote by members of the EPISD's Board of Trustees to authorize selling the former Morehead building. The building sits on a nearly 19-acre site that includes several other structures. The portion of the property to be turned into an animal shelter to be run by the city's Animal Services division will also include an adjoining dog park. The selling of the former Morehead school makes good financial sense for EPISD, which has been burdened in recent years with more than two dozen vacant facilities and a maintenance budget for those facilities in the neighborhood of around $300,000. By Garry Boulard ![]() Officials with the Hota Industrial Manufacturing Company say they want to build a $99 million factory within the boundaries of the Westpark Industrial Park in Santa Teresa. The plant will go up on a 30-acre site close to the U.S./Mexican border. Hota, which is headquartered in Taipei City, Taiwan, has other manufacturing facilities up and running in its home country, as well as China, Japan, and Thailand. In a statement, David Shen, chairman of Hota, said the company decided on Santa Teresa for its plant site because "its location makes it a one-day trucking distance to many of our main customers." He added that "transportation infrastructure is in place to support the logistics of our goods and services," while "utility supply is stable and relatively inexpensive." Hota's move to Santa Teresa was aided by the awarding of some $3 million in funds to help defray land and infrastructure costs via Local Economic Development Act support. Hota has an international reputation for its production of gears and axles, turning out up to 20 million such component parts on an annual basis for automobiles, heavy duty trucks, and motorcycles. Earlier this year, the company announced plans to build three more manufacturing facilities in Taiwan in order to respond to what is expected to be a need for supply parts for around 2 million electric vehicles in the next two years. Launched in 1973, the company's revenue last year exceeded $7.3 billion. If all goes according to plans, work on the new Hota Santa Teresa facility will begin early next year, with a rough completion date in 2025. By Garry Boulard ![]() Housing starts in August were down both from the month before and in comparison with where things stood a year ago, says a new report just released by the Census Bureau. According to that agency, overall starts had dropped by 11% from July. But the decrease at 15% was larger when juxtaposed against the numbers reported in August of 2022. The report additionally noted that while single-family starts were actually up over August of 2022, it was in the multi-family sector where the real damage was seen with a 41% decline. Residential permits overall were off from last year, with a 2.7% decline, although single-family permits were up 7.2%. But, again, the numbers were daunting in the multi-family sector, where permits were down by 18% from last August. Despite that multi-family decline, as of last month there was a reported 995,000 multi-family units under construction nationally. A separate report issued by the American Banking Association notes that housing start levels in August were at their lowest point since the summer of 2020. The report also noted that a "resurgence in mortgage rates has pushed prospective buyers to the sidelines and weighed on demand." The larger housing starts decline picture, notes the site Bloomberg, is highlighting the “toll of declining housing affordability.” Alicia Huey, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, pointed to the ongoing increase in mortgage rates as a primary reason for the housing starts slump. Interviewed by the publication The Street, Huey continued: “Builders continue to grapple with shortages of construction workers, buildable lots, and distribution transformers, which is further adding to housing affordability woes.” Generally, according to NAHB figures, single-family permits have been significantly higher for most of the last decade when compared to multi-family permits. By Garry Boulard ![]() Two auto manufacturing plants in Colorado have been targeted by the United Auto Workers as part of the labor union’s larger national strike. Workers have now walked off the job at the General Motors Denver Parts Distribution Center, located at 23400 E. Smith Road, a facility that produces more than 200,000 parts on a monthly basis. The second Colorado job action is taking place at the Stellantis Distribution Center in Commerce City. That plant, located at 12225 E 39th Avenue, supports the company’s multi-brand manufacturing. The UAW, with a total membership of more than 391,000 workers, announced on September 15 that it was calling a strike against the Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Stellantis, which, combined, employ around 145,000 workers. The union said it was striking over what it says are stagnant wages that have failed to take into account the impact of inflation. The organization also wants to see a restoration of retirement benefits and overtime, two benefits that were discarded during the Great Recession. Talks between the UAW and representatives of the auto plants began last spring but failed to resolve major issues. In a union-wide ballot on August 15, 97% of the members voted to go on strike. UAW President Shawn Fain, who has said that the membership specifically wants a 20% immediate raise and gradual yearly, amounting to what will ultimately be an increase of 46%, recently remarked that the union’s action is an “act of faith” in its workers. “Yes, these corporations are mountains,” Fain was quoted as remarking in the Financial Times, “but together we can make them move.” In a press release, the UAW noted that while progress has been made in negotiations with Ford officials, “Stellantis, like General Motors, is refusing to make significant progress.” The statement added: “Our strategy is applying pressure where it is most needed.” The UAW action has seen strikes at plants primarily located in the Midwest. Besides Colorado, the only states in the West thus far impacted have been Texas, with job actions at both a Ford and Stellantis plant; Nevada, at a General Motors facility; and two Stellantis plants in California and Oregon. General Motors, in its latest statement, announced that while it was committed to ongoing bargaining, it also had “contingency plans for various scenarios” and was prepared to “do what is best for our business, our customers, and our dealers.” By Garry Boulard |
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