The self-storage construction market, already booming, is expected to see continued growth for the duration of 2019. That growth has been particularly notable in the Western states, with the cities of Phoenix and Las Vegas proving to be two storage construction hot spots. One of the largest players in the field, the Irving, California-based U.S. Storage Centers, which is currently upgrading an existing facility in Nevada, foresees no lack of demand after several years of increased capacity. In an interview with GlobeSt.com, Charles Byerly, chief executive officer of U.S. Storage Centers, remarked that Western-state demand “continues to be steady, and continued multifamily construction will only help to maintain that demand.” In a new report published by the Calabasas, California-based Marcus & Millichap real estate firm, 2019 Self-Storage US Investment Forecast, the overall state of the nation’s economy is cited as one of the reasons for a bullish self-storage market for the rest of this year. The report notes that as many companies continue to build new locations and expand their staffs, the need for self-storage facilities will remain vibrant. Growth is also being fueled by “long-term demographic factors,” including the roughly 80 million or so members of the Millennial Generation, which currently comprise roughly a third of all self-storage renters. The Millennial Generation’s share of the self-storage market is poised to steadily increase as its members enter their “primary income-earning years.” Plans are currently in the works for a new 85,000 square foot self-storage facility in Carbondale, Colorado, to be put up by the GO Self Storage company, with work beginning last month on a 117,000 square foot self-storage facility in Scottsdale by the firm 1784 Capital Holdings. Titan Development of Albuquerque, meanwhile, has just completed the 86,000 square-foot Corrales Storage in Rio Rancho. By Garry Boulard
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Add to the recreational offerings of the growing town of Gilbert, Arizona, the construction of an extensive new water sports complex. The 25-acre facility will go up inside the Gilbert Regional Park, just west of Higley Road on the south side of the city, and will be built as a public/private project. It is thought that it will cost upwards of $35 million to build a complex that will also include an aqua park water obstacle course, surf lagoon, and floating stage. The project will also see the construction of a pro shop, club house, several cabanas, and a restaurant. Members of the Gilbert Town Council have agreed to enter into a partnership with a local company called The Strand @ Gilbert to get the project completed. Work could begin later this spring or in early summer with a general completion date anticipated in the summer of 2020. The water park project will mark Gilbert’s first foray into a recreational option that is becoming increasingly popular across the country. According to the industry group Hotel & Leisure Advisors, there are currently more than 1,000 operating waterparks in the U.S., with around 30 new parks built every year. Those parks represent more than $1 billion in capital investment. In a statement, Jenn Daniels, the Mayor of Gilbert, said the new water park will offer users the “newest and most innovative technologies in water sports activity and amenities.” Mayor Daniels added that upon being opened for business the park will prove a “sports destination for Gilbert and the surrounding region.” The larger 272-acre Gilbert Regional Park was carved out by town officials some four years ago, with construction launching last year on an amphitheater, dog park, recreation center, and recreational fields. By Garry Boulard scheels all sports to build in colorado springs; incentives package may be decided later this month2/22/2019 Sporting goods retailer Scheels All Sports may be building a new location in Colorado Springs. The Fargo, North Dakota-based company says it wants to put up a 220,000 square foot building that is expected to cost around $84 million to complete. The chain opened a 250,000 outlet in Johnstown two years ago, its first location in the Centennial State. As planned, the new store will be built in the Interquest Marketplace on the north side of Colorado Springs. In a bid to secure the project, members of the Colorado Springs City Council may vote to approve up to $16 million in tax incentives that will be locked in over a 25-year period. With more than $60 million in annual sales, Scheers is one of the largest sporting goods supply stores in the country, with locations in just under thirty states, primarily in the Midwest and West. Those stores offer everything from sonar fishing equipment to ice shelters, hunting bows, and clothing. According to city documents, the new Scheers store would benefit the “public health, safety, and welfare by facilitating construction of necessary public improvements and furthering the City’s overall economic development goals.” The Colorado Springs council is expected to make a final decision on the incentives package, which has received some criticism from community activists for its size, later this month. The retailer earlier announced that work on the new Colorado Springs location would most likely begin this spring, with an anticipated April 2021 completion date. By Garry Boulard More than $23 million has been awarded for a project repairing Colorado’s U.S. Highway 550, otherwise known as the Red Mountain Pass. That highway in southwest Colorado suffered severe damage in 2013 from both floods and a rockslide. The funding to repair the highway is coming from the federal Department of Transportation and is one of more than 75 individual disaster infrastructure projects in 34 states securing grant support. Altogether, the Transportation Department is awarding just short of $706 million in bridge and road repair funding. In a statement, Elaine Chao, the Secretary of the Transportation Department, said the money was needed to help states making “critical repairs to their transportation infrastructure following natural disasters such as wildfires, storms, and floods.” The funding is designed to pay for both the reconstruction and replacement of bridges, as well as highways damaged by natural disasters. The Colorado rockslide was the result of unprecedented flooding in the southwest corner of the state. An additional rockslide in the Red Mountain Pass occurred last year. In a statement, Colorado Senator Michael Bennet noted that the Colorado Department of Transportation has already taken on the repair of the Red Mountain Pass, but remarked, “There is more work to do.” Bennet added: “This funding will make it possible to complete final repair projects.” According to Colorado DOT figures, the 2013 floods ultimately impacted more than 200 square miles of the state, including nearly 500 miles of state roadways. Bu Garry Boulard The historic W.S. Hills building in downtown El Paso will soon be the subject of substantial renovation, capped with the addition of four new upper floors. Located at the corner of East San Antonio and Texas avenues, the structure was built in 1926 and for years has housed lower level retail and upper level office space. The new renovation, as designed by a team of architects from the firms up of In*Situ and Root Architects, will see a modern glass-walled topper that will be mostly made up of loft style apartments and office space. The ground floor of the structure will include both business and retail space. Legendary southwest architect Henry Trost is the designer for the original building. The new design team says the addition will be done in a way that “references the historic building structurally, rhythmically and materially.” That original structure, designed in what is described as a Second Renaissance Revival style, was named after El Paso attorney and developer W.S. Hills. Several decades after Hills died in 1898, his wife Mary commissioned Trost to design the structure, which would be described by the El Paso Herald upon its early 1927 inauguration as a “handsome polished granite and terra cotta building.” By Garry Boulard One of a handful of New Mexico National Guard armories to be closed down four years ago in a cost-cutting move, an armory in Tucumcari will soon be re-purposed by Mesalands Community College. The school, which purchased the one-story, 21,500 square foot structure at 1200 S. 11th Street late last year, wants to use the space as a student center and for community events. Situated on nearly 8 acres, the armory is located roughly a mile to the south of Mesaland’s main campus at 911 S. 10th Street. A National Guard officer in 2015 said the Tucumcari closure was the result of a study showing that not enough armory square footage across the state was being utilized. School officials say the armory’s existing classrooms and office space will probably be updated. Earlier reports indicated that the armory, which was built in the late 1980s, may also be used for classes requiring workspace. A portion of the building will additionally be readapted for use as an art gallery. Work on the structure is expected to begin this spring with a completion date in time for the fall 2020 semester. By Garry Boulard Releasing statistics showing that 366 of nearly 1,000 construction-site fatalities were due to falls from elevation, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration is making preparations for a four-day event designed to increase awareness about elevation accidents. The National Safety Stand Down to Prevent Falls in Construction is scheduled for May 6-10 and, as planned, will see construction employers across the country talking to employees about risk and accident prevention procedures. OSHA, operating within the Department of Labor, notes that falls from elevation continue to comprise the primary cause of death for construction workers. In addition to the hundreds who die annually from such accidents, more than 10,000 construction workers are every year seriously injured by falls. The idea behind the Stand Down event is to encourage a dialogue between employers and employees regarding the hazards workers face, protective procedures, and the individual company’s safety policies and goals. Recent Stand Down events have been conducted by construction companies of varying sizes in all fifty states and have focused on accidents related to skylight, bridge decking, scaffold, and ladder falls. Employers taking part in what OSHA describes as a non-mandatory event can receive a Certificate of Participation from the agency for their participation. The agency additionally offers platinum, gold, silver and bronze certificates, depending upon how many years a company has hosted Stand Down talks. Those talks, according to OSHA, can run the gamut - everything from 15-minute informal gatherings all the way up to several hours of training for several days running. OSHA this year will be offering free Stand Down compliance assistance on its website and through the publication of the agency’s Fall Prevention Training Guide. A report released earlier this year by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that overall there were more than 5,100 work site fatalities in 2017, with the construction, extraction, and transportation industries making up nearly half of that number. By Garry Boulard Plans have been announced for the construction in south Flagstaff of a student housing project that may ultimately consist of more than two dozen different-sized structures built in a community-like setting. The Austin-based Campus Advantage, one of the largest student housing owners and managers in the country, has said that it wants to build a series of townhouses and other residential structures at the southwest intersection of Lone Tree Road and J.W. Powell Boulevard. The project, officially called Liv + Flagstaff, would be built on a 15-acre site and would see the construction of just under 200 individual units, housing a total of 702 beds. Altogether, the combined building space will come in at just a little under 340,000 square feet. Designed to serve students from the nearby Northern Arizona University and Coconino Community College, the project would additionally include a fitness center, clubhouse, swimming pool, oblong-shaped dog park, and a network of walking trails. Parking for nearly 550 vehicles would be provided in both surface parking and carport space. An exact building schedule for the housing project has not yet been announced. Founded in 2003, Campus Advantage, which specializes in student housing property management, acquisitions, and development, has in recent years aggressively expanded its portfolio with properties now in 24 states. By Garry Boulard Nearly 100 schools in Colorado are getting a total of $29 million in grant funding designed to be used specifically on facility security measures. The money is coming through a unique effort created by the Colorado State Legislature last year known as the School Security Disbursement Program. That program is administered through the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Management Funding and offers grant support for public school capital construction efforts, including the installation of any devices, equipment, or hardware used to prevent the entry of an unauthorized individual into a public school. The grants range in size from just over $12,000 to the Liberty Common Charter School in Fort Collins to the more than $1.6 million for the more than a dozen schools making up the Montrose County School District on the western side of the state. Altogether, more than three hundred individual school security projects were presented to the disbursement program for funding. By Garry Boulard More than $600 million in federal support for the construction of rural broadband projects is being made available through the Department of Agriculture. That money, according to a new report just released from the White House, is part of a larger effort coming out of Washington that is designed to provide a coordinated multi-agency approach to increasing broadband infrastructure in underserved parts of the country. The Milestones Report notes that besides the $600 million Department of Agriculture program, the Interior Department has been tasked with mapping out more than 7,000 tower locations in rural areas that will be “available to service providers looking to locate equipment on Federal property as they expand wireless and wireline broadband networks.” Meanwhile, the General Services Administration has been soliciting public input on what assets may be needed to expand mobile access in rural areas. The overall Rural Broadband Initiative, says the report, is a “signature strategy to stimulate increased private investment in broadband infrastructure and services to fill broadband connectivity gaps in America.” The initiative, continues the report, is designed to “drive changes across federal agencies to better leverage public assets and resources through partners to expand our nation’s broadband capacity.” The initiative is also pushing for what it calls a “streamlined federal permitting process” that will “make it easier for network builders and service providers to access federal assets and rights of way.” Noting that nearly 30 percent of the land owned by the federal government and managed by the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Interior, and Transportation is concentrated in rural areas, the report argues that towers belonging to those agencies should be made available for private sector use. A new emphasis on federal, state, and local cooperation in getting rural broadband projects built, the report adds, is expected to result in a significant increase in such construction in the next year. By Garry Boulard |
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