Preliminary planning is underway for the construction of a new 82-room boutique hotel that will go up in the Phoenix suburban town of Paradise Valley. The hotel will be built at 7101 E. Lincoln Drive, just blocks to the east of downtown Paradise Valley. That site is the home to the former Smoke Tree Resort & Bungalows, which was opened in 1955 and described in the book Moon Phoenix, Scottsdale & Sedona as a “quaint and private place to stay with a bed-and-breakfast vibe.” The longest-running independent hotel in Paradise Valley, the Smoke Tree, for a variety of reasons, closed its doors in the summer of 2020. Ever since that closing, town officials in Paradise Valley have reviewed several ideas on how to redevelop the tree-lined and manicured 5-acre site. Last June the Scottsdale-based Walton Global, which specializes in land asset management and real estate investment, closed on a $14 million purchase of the Smoke Tree property. At the time, the company announced in a press release that it wanted to build a new boutique hotel at the site, that will “serve locals and support Arizona tourism.” In order to build that new hotel, the existing Smoke Tree will be demolished. Additional plans call for the creation of a bistro, a fine-dining restaurant, centralized swimming pool, five guest casitas, and underground parking. The Walton company has let it be known that it is not interested in a quick turnaround of the property, but instead envisions a process, working with the Paradise Valley Town Council and other public entities, that may take several years to be made reality. Project architect for the redevelopment is Allen + Philp Partners of Scottsdale. Founded in 1979, Walton Global to date managers around $3.4 billion in real estate assets internationally. In March, the company announced that it was launching a $100 million private placement fund to be used for the development of new homes across the country. By Garry Boulard
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Former barracks housing that is a part of the Old Fort Bliss property in El Paso is on the market for just under $700,000. Located at 1836 and 1844 W. Paisano Drive, the structures measure just over 21, 200 square feet and are regarded as Class C buildings. Built in the late 19th century in the Victorian architectural style, the buildings sit on a 1.3-acre site that was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The roots of Fort Bliss can be traced to the late 1840s with the creation of a U.S. Army post not long after the Mexican American War. It was surrendered to the Confederacy at the beginning of the Civil War, before the Union Army retook control of the site less than two years later. In subsequent decades it served several functions, which include providing anti-aircraft artillery battalion training during World War II. The base was substantially expanded after the war and is today the home to a tank division, Joint Mobilization Force, and the offices of the Department of Homeland Security. The barracks structures, which are currently vacant, but valued by local preservationists, are located around 9 miles to the southwest of today’s modern Fort Bliss. The properties are being listed by the El Paso offices of SVN Fortune Real Estate. By Garry Boulard In a move designed to create more technology hubs, the Commerce Department is announcing the availability of federal funding to build such entities on a nationwide basis. The effort, said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, is designed to “help us create ecosystems of innovation to strengthen economic opportunity in communities around the country that have been historically overlooked.” By so doing, what the Commerce Department is officially calling the Regional Technology and Innovations Hubs program will provide grant funding opportunities for an array of entities, including state and local governments, institutions of higher learning, and economic development groups as they put together tech hub proposals. The initiative is starting with a Notice of Funding Opportunity for interested parties to apply for planning grants and tech hub designations. A second Notice of Funding Opportunity is expected to be announced later in the year for those applicants who have been designated as official tech hubs. That second Notice of Funding Opportunity will focus on how the hubs can apply for implementation funding. Tech hubs are traditionally places where several or many technology-centered companies are doing business in the same general physical space, with start-ups working collaboratively. According to a press release from the Commerce Department, the goal of the tech hubs is to recruit, train and retain a “skilled and diverse workforce critical to strengthening U.S. technological competitiveness.” The Tech Hubs program was created via the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. By statute, it is authorized to spend up to $10 billion between now and 2029. By Garry Boulard The owners of a structure in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood that was once home to a well-known black funeral home are receiving a $50,000 grant could serve as a predicate to future rehabilitation work. Built in 1892, the Neoclassical-designed building became the Douglass Mortuary in 1915, serving the city’s minority community for decades. Whimsically, what was also known as the Douglass Undertaking Company used to run newspaper ads with the motto: “Remember our services are of the velvet kind.” The mortuary’s location in the Denver’s Five Points area was particularly relevant to its success, thriving in a part of the city long known as the “Harlem of the West” and populated with minority residences and businesses. In subsequent decades, the building at 2475 Welton Street has had several owners, before being occupied by the Urban Sanctuary yoga and wellness studio. Now the state-run agency, History Colorado, has announced that it is awarding the Urban Sanctuary a $50,000 grant in order to create construction documents for planned rehabilitation work. That work will see the upgrading of the building’s heating system and rehabilitation of the storefront. Additional work will include the replacement of the structure’s roofing system. The funding is coming through History Colorado’s State Historical Fund and is part of nearly $536,000 in funding awarded this year for projects across the state. In a press release, Marcie Moore Grantz, director of the State Historical Fund, said that the rehabilitation of such historical structures as the former Douglass Mortuary was important “not just for cultural preservation, but tourism generation, and equitable access to opportunities for Colorado’s diverse communities.” By Garry Boulard A public tribal land-grant university located in Crownpoint, New Mexico, is the recipient of $1.7 million in state funding for security improvements. Located off New Mexico State Road 371 in northwestern New Mexico, Navajo Technical University is home to around 1,800 students and has satellite campuses in the Arizona towns of Chinle and Teec Nos Pos. After securing the approval of members of the New Mexico State Legislature earlier this year, the $1.7 million capital outlay for Navajo Technical was signed into law by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. The funding more specifically is to be spent to “plan, design, construct, and install safety, accessibility, and security improvements” on the Crownpoint campus. The capital outlay funding comes after Navajo Tech was allotted $4 million as part of a $215.9 million General Obligation Bond approved last November by New Mexico voters for the planning and building of a trades instruction facility. The school is also in the process of completing construction of a 27,500 square foot academic complex, housing both classrooms and offices. That project is expected to be completed later this year. By Garry Boulard The Nation's Most Expensive Real Estate Markets Seeing Average Home Prices Above $1.6 Million5/12/2023 The West is booming in the arena of the most expensive real estate markets in the country, according to a new survey by the National Association of Realtors, with Boulder, Colorado showing an average price of $836,900. Although the prices in such high-end markets are spectacular, they are also on the downside, according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist with NAR. “Generally speaking, home prices are lower in expensive markets and higher in affordable markets,” said Yun in a press release accompanying the latest statistics. That activity, he added, suggests “greater mortgage rate sensitivity for high-priced homes.” Of the top 10 most expensive markets, nine (counting Hawaii) were located in the West. In California, home to seven of the ten markets, prices ranged from a low of $844,800 in the Oxnard-Thousands Oaks-Ventura market, about 60 miles to the north of Los Angeles; to a high of just over $1.6 million in the Santa Jose-Santa Clara market some 40 miles to the south of San Francisco. Even though the Boulder with an average of $836,900 made it the most expensive market in the Centennial state, that figure was off by some 2.6% over the first quarter of 2022. Nationally, notes the NAR report, the average single-family home price is now at $371,200, representing a marginal 0.2% decline over the first three months of last year. By Garry Boulard After months of speculation, a plan to redevelop the historic Hayden Flour Mill in Tempe may be moving into high gear. Built in 1918 and replacing two earlier mills on the site dating back to 1895, the Hayden Flour Mill for decades produced tons of flour and grain until early 1998 when it’s then-owner, the Bay State Mill Company, moved operations to nearby Tolleson. The City of Tempe purchased the facility and surrounding 5-acre site for nearly $12 million in 2003. In years since, the property at 119 S Mill Avenue has been the subject of redevelopment proposals calling for the site, with its distinctive seven white grain silos, to be turned into a mixed-use project. A proposal submitted by Sunbelt Holdings of Scottsdale and Phoenix-based Venue Projects to the city originally avoided going into details in terms of what to do with the property, opting to first seek public input instead. Negotiations between Sunbelt, Venue, and the City of Tempe regarding an official development agreement remain ongoing. However, reports indicate that once an agreement is reached, perhaps later this year, project details will be forthcoming. According to city documents, Sunbelt and Venue have proposed a “once-in-a-generation adaptive reuse outcome that prioritizes preservation.” In correspondence with the city, Sunbelt and Venue have envisioned a “creative and dynamic program of uses oriented toward specialty retail, food and beverage, events, arts, office and hospitality.” According to reports, the Hayden mill redevelopment will include the construction of half a dozen new buildings surrounding the existing historic structures. In an interview with the Phoenix Business Journal, Lorenzo Perez, Venue co-founder, said he thought the mixture of new and old at the site, will produce a “one-of-a-kind experience.” The products manufactured at the original Hayden mill remain popular today. The Hayden Flour Mills company has established a presence in Queen Creek, Arizona, and enjoys a healthy online business with customers ordering such offerings as artisan bread flour, pizza flour, and all-purpose flour. By Garry Boulard An effort to restore a resplendent nearly 120-year-old railroad depot in downtown Grand Junction is taking a significant step forward with new state grant funding. Located at 119 Pitkin Avenue, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Depot was designed in the Italian Renaissance style by well-known Chicago architect Henry John Schlacks and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Active train service at the depot was discontinued in 1992 when Amtrak moved its operations to the adjacent Grand Junction Station. Since then, city officials and preservationists have been trying to find a new use for the depot. Some seven years ago private investors Veronica Sanchez and Dustin Anzures purchased the property with the idea of rehabilitating a structure that has long been neglected. To that end, the State Historical Fund, which is a part of the organization History Colorado, has just announced that it is awarding a $50,000 grant to fund the creation of the depot’s rehabilitation construction documents. The grant award has been sent to the Grand Junction Downtown Development Authority, which has been spearheading the rehabilitation project. Creation of those construction documents are needed in order to apply for future project funding and preservation tax credits. In a statement, Brandon Stam, executive director of the Downtown Grand Junction Partnership, remarked: “We’ve seen historic rail buildings like this given a second life as re-imagined community gathering spaces such as museums, event halls, restaurants, and bars.” As it neared its unveiling in 1906, the depot was lauded for its design by the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, which called it “one of the prettiest in the West,” adding: “Inside and outside, the big structure is a thing of beauty.” By Garry Boulard A bill that will mandate new rail safety technology while also increasing regulations for the hauling of toxic materials has been approved by a U.S. Senate committee. The Rail Safety Act has passed in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and is now on its way to the full Senate for a vote. As proposed, the legislation will also outlaw one-person train crews, limit the size of hazardous material shipments, and expand grants for firefighters to purchase hazardous materials gear. The measure, as proposed by Democrat Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, is spirited by the derailment of a 50-car train in February in East Palestine, Ohio. Several cars were transporting up to 500,000 pounds of the chemical vinyl chloride. The derailment caused fires in the cars as well as a controlled burn. In response, several hundred residents living within a mile of the accident were evacuated. The measure has received some bipartisan support. Former President Donald Trump remarked that the bill has his “complete and total endorsement.” While acknowledging that Republicans are generally opposed to increased regulations, Florida Republican Marco Rubio expressed his support for the legislation, telling The Hill newspaper that “given the derailment and some of the evidence, I think this is a pretty narrowly tailored bill.” In a published statement, the Association of American Railroads said that while it had problems with what it called mandated “crew staffing models,” as well as the expansion of hazmat transportation operating requirements, it was nevertheless supportive overall of the legislation. By Garry Boulard Construction could begin later this summer on a roughly 38,000 square foot building that will serve as the new offices to the Farmington-based Citizens Bank. One of the oldest banking institutions in New Mexico, the Citizens Bank was founded in nearby Aztec, the San Juan County seat, in 1905 and today has half a dozen locations throughout the county. The new structure will go up off Auburn Avenue near the intersection with W. Main Street, across the way from a Four Corners Community Bank location. The property is already the home to the Citizens Bank’s long-standing Farmington headquarters. According to reports, the new building will be two stories in height and will feature a sleek, modern design. If all goes as expected work on the new structure will be completed by either late 2024 or early 2025. The bank opened its first Farmington location at 200 W. Main Street in 1950. By Garry Boulard |
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