A more than 30-year old hotel property on the south side of Santa Fe is slated to be redeveloped into affordable housing. The Residence Inn by Marriott, located at 1698 Galisteo Street, has been purchased by the Provo, Utah-based PEG Companies. PEG, one of the largest commercial real estate developers in Utah, has had extensive experience transforming similar properties into affordable complexes. The company has also developed more than $500 million in hospitality, residential, office and retail projects since 2003. The Santa Fe Residence Inn houses 120 suites of varying sizes on a site of interconnected two-story buildings with balconies. It is not yet known how many of the hotel’s suites will be reconfigured, although PEG has said that it wants to offer a mix of one and two bedroom spaces, as well as studio space. PEG purchased the Galisteo Street hotel, along with six other hotel properties nationally, in September. The total package acquisition was valued at around $130 million. The company currently has more than $1.4 billion hospitality, housing, and mixed-use projects in the pipeline. By Garry Boulard
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Construction, and other companies exhibiting “good faith efforts” evaluating the competence of their crane operators, will have an additional 60 days to comply with the latest operator rules coming out of Washington. This most recent Occupational Safety and Health Administration announcement follows on the heels of a November ruling saying that all employers would be required to ensure that their crane operators are certified. That certification can be obtained, OSHA has explained, from an accredited, third party crane certification group; or via a state and/or local crane operator’s license that meets the federal agency’s standards. A third option for employers, OSHA has stated, is through an employer-audited crane operator program. Acting head of OSHA’s Directorate of Construction, Scott Ketcham, said the 60-day extension of the late 2018 rules came in the wake of input from companies across the country that said they needed more time to fully document evaluations of their crane operators. OSHA has also announced that in the next two months it will provide compliance assistance to help prepare companies for the new rules. At the same time, OSHA has also let it be known that if an employer has not made a sufficient effort to comply with the new crane operators policy, the agency will “fully enforce all applicable provisions of its final rule.” The agency has previously asserted that significant safety issues have arisen in the crane industry due to the advancement of new technologies. The new rules, OSHA says on its website, are necessary not only for the safety of the crane operators themselves, but “all workers in proximity to them.” By Garry Boulard For decades the Rome-based Fendi has been revered for its high quality clothing and accessories. “After Fendi,” actor Catherine Deneuve once commented, “everything else is banal.” But as if being one of the world’s leading fashion houses producing boots that can sell for $900 and dresses twice that amount isn’t enough, Fendi has also extended its famous brand to real estate, launching an upscale hotel in Rome. Now the company, which started in 1925 as small leathers good shop and fur house, has announced that it wants to build luxury residential housing. Selecting Scottsdale because of the large number of international travelers who visit the southern Arizona city and may be in the market for a year-around residence, Fendi says it will build just over forty units inside the confines of the larger mixed-use Palmeraie development. Palmeraie, with upper-end restaurant and retail offerings, is a 122-acre site between Scottsdale and Paradise Valley that is expected to cost more than $2 billion to fully develop. The Fendi Private Residence project will be the first of its kind in the U.S., with the construction of residential units measuring around 3,500 square feet. Marco Costanzi Architects, also of Rome, is the designer for a project that will see each unit decorated with a variety of textures, colors, and architectural detail. Costanzi Architects is widely known throughout Italy for its upscale retail, office, and showroom space work. Work on the Fendi residential project is expected to begin later this year, with a general completion date of sometime in 2020. By Garry Boulard What to do with a sprawling nearly 9-acre swath of land just north of downtown Boulder may finally be decided by members of the Boulder City Commission this summer. The land, formerly the campus of Boulder Community Health hospital, was purchased by the City of Boulder some 3 years ago for $40 million. The site is located along Broadway Street at Alpine and Balsam Avenues. In the months since, city officials have been looking at various proposals for the site, while also conducting a series of public input meetings in the hope of hearing ideas from residents in the surrounding neighborhoods. The redevelopment of the site could see the construction of up to 300 affordable housing units, as well as anywhere from 110,000 to 190,000 square feet of new city office space. An additional challenge with the project revolves around what to do with the site’s 329,000 square foot hospital, which is thought unusable for redevelopment. It has been suggested that the demolition of that structure could cost as much as $12 million. By Garry Boulard National road and highway traffic volume has increased by 14 percent since 2000, putting greater pressure on Washington to embrace a new era of infrastructure construction. So says Ray LaHood, former Transportation Secretary and current co-chair of the Washington-based group Building America’s Future. In testimony given to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, LaHood noted that in the 1930s just over 4 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product was spent on infrastructure investment, but as of 2016 that number was down to 0.6 percent. “Almost 40 percent of our bridges were built over 50 years ago when traffic volumes were less,” said LaHood. Noting that there are today over 54,000 structurally deficient bridges in the U.S., LaHood remarked that if those bridges were connected end to end, “the length of them would stretch 1,216 miles or nearly the distance between Miami and New York City.” LaHood additionally noted the irony of a country increasingly dependent upon and/or demanding same-day delivery services and the condition of many of the country’s urban streets and thoroughfares. “Trying to drive in any major city is like trying to navigate an obstacle course with delivery trucks and other vehicles doubled parked on both sides of the street,” he said, adding: “Our streets have become almost impassable.” Speaking to the same committee, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti urged Congress to pass infrastructure legislation that rewards innovation, “ensuring new technologies for reducing traffic, cutting emissions, improving goods delivery, facilitating the arrival of scooters, boring tunnels, and bringing electric and autonomous vehicles to our streets that are all developed here in the United States.” Representing the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Garcetti also said Congress should keep a “keen eye on how we can establish steady, lasting revenue streams so our infrastructure does not fall into dire disrepair in the future with no rapid way to fix it.” While others appearing before the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee have pushed for an increase in the current federal gas tax of 18.4 cents and diesel tax of 24.4 cents to help pay for the country’s infrastructure needs, other participants urged a greater shared funding effort between Washington and the states. By Garry Boulard Taking advantage of unprecedented oil and gas tax revenue, members of the New Mexico State Legislature are considering passage of a bill that would provide substantial funding for a statewide series of campus capital projects. As proposed, New Mexico State University stands to receive $880,000 for upgrades to its 1960s-era Fidel Hall on the school’s Grants campus. Senate Bill 280 will also provide $1.6 million to demolish the Regents Row Residence Center on the main Las Cruces campus; along with $3 million to renovate utility tunnels on that same campus. NMSU would additionally receive $425,000 to design and build a series of infrastructure upgrades on its Alamogordo campus. The legislation would provide $1.2 million for the construction of an electrical supply line and related infrastructure improvements on the Roswell campus of Eastern New Mexico University. The school is also in line to get $436,000 for infrastructure improvements on its Ruidoso campus, and another $500,000, also for infrastructure work, on the Portales campus. Western New Mexico State University would receive $1.2 million for the design and building of an electronic door system on its main Silver City campus, as well as $1.3 million for renovations to the school’s Miller Library and Student Memorial Center. In an analysis of the bill, the Legislative Finance Committee noted that due to “unprecedented levels of nonrecurring general fund revenues related to historically high oil and gas production,” lawmakers this year have a unique opportunity to “cash-finance capital projects rather than relying on bonding.” By Garry Boulard A 12-story International style structure, that has served as the Denver headquarters for the telecommunications company Century Link, will soon be seeing extensive renovations in the wake of its sale. The building at 930 15th Street was purchased last month by an entity owned by the San Francisco-based Steel Wave for $22.5 million. Steel Wave is a multi-family, commercial and mixed-use real estate management company. The company is undertaking the project in conjunction with Rialto Capital Management of Miami. Work on the 225,000 square foot structure will see an update to its exterior, as well as the building of new lobby space with a café, lounge, and bar. Also included in the renovation will be a new fitness center, which will be built in a rooftop terrace setting, as well as a floor-to-ceiling glass curtain wall system. Renovation designer is Gensler Architect, which has offices in Denver. Built in 1960 by the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company as a 5-story structure, another seven stories were added to the building by 1966. Besides Century Link, the structure for decades served as the offices for a variety of companies and non-profits. By Garry Boulard In November online retail giant Amazon put to rest endless questions regarding where it was going to locate its second headquarters. In an unexpected split decision, the company said it would build its new offices in both Arlington, Virginia, as well as Long Island, New York. The announcement followed more than a year of speculation, with cities across the country competing for the honor of winning the $5 billion project. Out of more than two hundred cities that sent extensive submissions to Amazon, a list of twenty finalists were announced in early 2018. On that list was Denver. The November announcement revealed that Amazon had received nearly $600 million in incentives from Arlington, along with a significantly larger $1.5 billion package in New York. But since that announcement, a variety of community groups, residents, and public union officials in New York have expressed their opposition to the Amazon deal, complaining in particular about the scale of the incentives. Now, according to a report published in the Washington Post, Amazon is thought to be reconsidering its New York decision. According to the newspaper, an unnamed Amazon official wondered “whether it’s worth it if the politicians in New York don’t want the project.” In response, while not denying that it may be reevaluating its New York decision, Amazon in a statement said “We’re focused on engaging with our new neighbors—small business owners, educators, and community leaders.” In a news conference New York Governor Andrew Cuomo expressed anger over the possibility that Amazon could ultimately end up building elsewhere, saying that if that happens, political leaders in the state are “going to have the people of New York state to explain it to.” Cuomo continued: “It is irresponsible to allow political opposition to overcome sound government policy.” In response to stories about Amazon possibly rethinking its New York decision, public officials in Connecticut, Maryland, and New Jersey have reached out to the company in the hope that it may reconsider their states for the project. There have been no indications as of yet that Denver officials are thinking of making a renewed pitch to Amazon. By Garry Boulard A new project that will see the construction of just under 90 residential units is slated to go up on the northwest corner of 16th Street and E. Baseline Road in Phoenix, some 6 miles to the south of downtown Phoenix. What is being called Baseline & 16th will see the building of a nearly $17 million suburban-style project in a part of the city populated with one-story commercial and retail space. Project developer is the Phoenix-based Avenue North real estate investment firm, which has developed more than 10,000 multifamily units in Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada. The units will go up on a 6.7-acre site, which Avenue North purchased for $2 million, with plans for both single story duplexes as well as two-story triplexes. The units will measure around 1,000 square feet, with rents ranging anywhere from $1,200 to $1,800. Designer for the project is the Phoenix-based Felton Group. Plans call for the work to begin on the units later this summer with a completion date of sometime in 2020. The project will embrace the “horizontal living” concept, which is becoming increasingly popular in the southwest, seeing apartment units built on one level, instead of in a more traditional multi-level structure. A more than century-old theater in downtown El Paso may soon be in line for both renovations and upgrades in the wake of an ownership change. The three-story Alhambra Theater, at 209 S. El Paso Street, was designed in the Moorish Revival tradition by legendary architect Henry Trost and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Opened in 1914, the theater for decades offered motion pictures and live entertainment, and was one of the city’s foremost vaudeville destinations. Nearly a decade ago it became the home to a concert venue known as Tricky Falls, which moved out of the structure last year. Now, the Abundant Faith Living Center, a massive non-denominational church with more than 20,000 members, has purchased the structure with plans to turn into a new place of worship. The listed asking price for the Alhambra was $1.6 million. The church already has one location on the east side of the city at 1000 Valley Crest, and another on the west side at 7100 N. Desert Boulevard. The east side church can serve 1,900 worshippers, while the Alahambra has a current seating capacity of around 1,500. It is not yet know when work on the historic structure will begin. By Garry Boulard |
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