A more than 120-year-old apartment complex on the southeast side of downtown Denver is being listed for sale for $4.7 million. Located at 1100 E. 10th Avenue in the city’s Cheesman Park neighborhood, the Ramon has always catered to an upscale tenant base and was built during a time of classically designed apartment complexes in Denver. Sitting on an 8.4-acre site, the three-story brick structure features units varying in size from studios to one and two-bedroom units. The building additionally features half a dozen garages to the rear of the structure, an on-site laundry room, and even a dog wash station. Offered for sale by Northpeak Commercial Advisors of Denver, the Ramon underwent an extensive upgrading two years ago that included installation of a new roof, sewer and water line, as well as updated electric panels. The Ramon is roughly 10 blocks to the east of the 80-acre Cheesman Park, which was built in 1898 and is regarded as one of the most historic open spaces in the city. By Garry Boulard
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Is President Biden’s Build Back Better bill dead and forgotten? Officially introduced in the House of Representatives last September, the legislation, with an initial $3.5 trillion price tag, was one of the most comprehensive packages ever tackled by lawmakers, embracing a wide variety of infrastructure, social service, and welfare initiatives. That original legislation proposed up to $150 billion in new housing funding, along with $555 billion for clean energy and climate change initiatives, and $400 billion for preschool childcare programs. Although the cost of the legislation, as a result of talks between Congressional leaders and the White House, was eventually lowered to $2.2 trillion, chances for passage appeared nil after West Virginia Senator John Manchin late last year said the bill was still too expensive and withdrew his support. Manchin said he decided against the legislation after reading a report from the Congressional Budget Office. That report, he said, “determined that the cost is upwards of $4.5 trillion, which is more than double what the bill’s ardent supporters have claimed.” In a Senate divided by 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, Manchin’s decision was regarded as effectively ending any chance to pass the Build Back Better legislation. “The further we get from enactment, the worst the legislation’s extra flab looks,” reported the Washington Post after Manchin’s decision, adding that “large chunks of the bill were wasteful and contributed to once-in-a-generation inflation.” But in the immediate aftermath of Manchin’s announcement, the Economist speculated that the White House would have “little incentive to admit defeat. Instead, it may try to do yet another wholesale rewrite of Build Back Better, jettisoning its current framework, in the hopes of saving face.” Other sources are reporting that the efforts to resuscitate Build Back Better are already underway. Notes Politico: Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and other Democrats are “continuing to quietly discuss possibilities for a new bill and are not giving up on finding a way to bring Manchin on board.” Speaking to reporters last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged that “discussions are ongoing” regarding the possibility of re-introducing Build Back Better in the weeks to come. Those discussions, she added, “are happening between members on the Hill to determine what they can have support for. And our staff and senior members of the team are engaged in those as well.” By Garry Boulard Initial construction could begin later this year on an ambitious plan to build an electric vehicle charging infrastructure throughout New Mexico. The state is receiving around $38 million to be used over a five-year period in funding from the federal Department of Transportation. In announcing the funding, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham remarked that “electric vehicles are a key part of reducing emissions in the transportation sector.” The funding, the Governor continued, “will help ensure New Mexicans can charge up in convenient locations.” Altogether, the Department of Transportation, working with the Energy Department, is making available some $5 billion in funding for the building of electric vehicle charging stations across the country. That funding is being made available through the newly-established National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, whose mission is to build out an electric charging station network across the country. Around $615 million will be available in fiscal year 2022 through the program, with the proviso that states first submit a detailed electric vehicle infrastructure deployment plan. According to sources, there are currently around 250 electric charging stations up and running in New Mexico. Advocates of building out the system note that the Land of Enchantment, the fifth largest state geographically in the country, making up just under 122,000 square miles, is particularly in need of more charging stations given the hundreds of miles between such cities as Albuquerque and Las Cruces. By Garry Boulard The Texas Water Development Board has given its approval to a massive project designed to alleviate flooding in a mostly lower income neighborhood just to the northeast of Socorro, Texas. The project caries with it a $45 million price tag, and will see the excavation of around 300 feet of ground, before the building of a 300-foot long basin, as well as an embankment with a height of some 40 feet. To be built at the lower end of what is known as the Sparks Arroyo, the floodwater detention basin project is currently in the design phase, which is expected to be completed by the late summer of 2023. Work on the detention basin, with a one-year construction schedule, will most likely begin in December of 2023. Created in 1957, the Texas Water Board has to date provided both loans and grants totaling more than $32 billion for water infrastructure projects throughout the Lone Star State. Funding from the board for the Sparks Arroyo project come in the form of a $20.7 million no-interest loan, along with a $13.8 million grant. By Garry Boulard An ongoing truckers’ strike at the Canadian border is expected to have a negative impact on the U.S. supply chain, including the importation of vitally needed semiconductor chips, according to news sources. Truck drivers, organizing what is being called a “Freedom Convoy,” began blocking a U.S.-Canada border crossing last week, protesting several Covid 19 mandates, but in particular a requirement that they must either be fully vaccinated or tested. The blockade on the Ambassador Bridge, connecting Windsor, Ontario with Detroit, is causing “manufacturing disruptions that experts say could worsen,” notes the Detroit News. The paper adds that more than a quarter of all goods traded between the U.S. and Canada travels across the Ambassador Bridge, carrying an array of supplies, including those all-important chips for automakers. The Windsor Star has reported that the protest has expanded from opposing mandates for just cross-border truckers, to protesting all vaccine mandates, while some truckers have also included the increasing cost of fuel as a striking complaint. The ongoing action has prompted Ford, General Motors, and Toyota to either curtail production or outright shut down some of their plants, the publication Transport Topics is reporting, noting that the action is “disrupting the flow of components and other products back and forth across the border.” Meanwhile, the New York Times is reporting that a convoy-style truckers protest in the U.S., expressing sympathy for the Canadian drivers’ action, may soon see a similar demonstration stretching from California to Washington, D.C. That report has been buttressed by a bulletin released by the Department of Homeland Security saying that the DHS has “received reports of truck drivers planning to potentially block roads in major metropolitan cities in the United States in protest of, among other things, vaccine mandates for truck drivers.” The bulletin adds that the convoy, which could begin in earnest in mid-February, has the potential of picking up more truckers and trucks as it travels across the U.S. In response, Chris Spear, chief executive officer of the American Trucking Association, has issued a statement declaring that the ATA “strongly opposes any protest activities that disrupt public safety and compromise the economic and national security of the United States.” A coalition of business groups, which includes the Detroit and Ontario chambers of commerce, have now also issued a statement calling for an immediate end to the Canadian truckers’ strike, and adding: “We cannot allow any group to undermine the cross-border trade that supports families on both sides of the border.” By Garry Boulard A well-known and much-used public space on the north side of Bullhead, Arizona, is about to see significant facility upgrade work. Located at 2251 Arizona Route 68, Davis Camp is both a park and camping ground seeing more than 200,000 visitors on an annual basis. Now Mohave County officials have announced that work may soon begin on the renovation of existing ramadas in the park, as well as the building and installation of new ones. The park will also see the renovation of several vacation homes at the site, as well as shower houses and restroom upgrades. In addition, a new dock and boat ramp will be built, along with a basketball court. A total of $1.8 million in funding for the Camp Davis work is coming via the federal American Rescue Plan Act. An additional Camp Davis project, seeing the phase four 1,800-foot completion of a new waterline, is also being funded through the ARPA to the tune of $286,000. Altogether, Mohave County last spring received around $41.5 million in ARPA funding for a variety of new construction and upgrade infrastructure projects. Davis Park’s origins reach back to the mid-1940s when workers building the nearby massive Davis Dam lived in dormitories at the site on a long-term basis. By Garry Boulard A project that would see the building of a 19-room boutique hotel in downtown Santa Fe is taking a big step forward. Members of the Santa Fe Planning Commission have given their approval to the hotel, which will go up at the corner of Old Santa Fe Trail and Water Street. The site, to be developed by Kirkpatrick LLC, is next door to the historic Loretto Chapel. As planned, 15 of the 19 rooms will be on the building’s first and second floors, with a larger single two-bedroom suite on the fourth floor. Developer Jim Kirkpatrick, who spearheaded the building of the Inn & Spa at Loretto nearly 50 years ago, has tried repeatedly in past years to get the hotel project approved, only to meet with rejection by a commission unhappy with aspects of the proposal. It is a smaller and less tall hotel proposal that finally won a green light from the commission. Kirkpatrick had earlier acquired the block upon which the new project will be built. That block includes the famous Loretto Chapel, which was built in 1878 and is internationally known for its 20-foot-high spiral staircase. The chapel was deconsecrated in 1971. By Garry Boulard The country’s largest professional architectural association is predicting increases in nonresidential building construction spending through the rest of the year, and an even bigger jump in 2023. Based on the findings of its Consensus Construction Forecast panel, the Washington-based American Institute of Architects thinks spending on nonresidential building projects will enjoy a healthy 5.4% increase this year. In a statement, Kermit Baker, chief economist with the AIA, remarked that “challenges to the economy and the construction industry notwithstanding, the outlook for the residential building market looks promising for this year and next.” Averaging out the forecasts of such construction market analytical services as the Dodge Construction Network, IHS Markit, and Moody’s Analytics, among others, the AIA panel notes that in 2021 “retail and other commercial, industrial, and health care facilities managed to eke out spending increases.” Growth for this year, however, is expected to be generally across the board, with “only the hotel, religious, and public safety sectors” expected to decline. Commercial construction, says the report, “is projected to see growth of just under 5% this year, and an additional 5.3% in 2023, and as such is one of the biggest surprises in the construction outlook.” The AIA panel also sees a 9% gain in industrial market construction this year, followed by a slightly lower, but more than 8% increase in 2023. “This sector has been one of the few in nonresidential construction to benefit from the pandemic,” notes the report. “The strong growth in e-commerce during the pandemic meant increased need for distribution facilities.” The institutional sector, meanwhile, is expected to see a 4.5% increase for the rest of 2022, and an even larger 5% for all next year. Despite this generally rosy outlook, the AIA report warns that supply chain disruptions are expected to continue for the time being, with marked inflation “expected to put upward pressure on interest rates.” Finally, the report adds, “The already-serious labor shortages look to become even more severe this year and next.” By Garry Boulard El Paso city officials are trying to determine what exactly to do with a historic downtown building housing the old De Soto Hotel. That structure, at 309 E. Mills Avenue near the intersection of N. Stanton Street, was heavily damaged due to a fire that broke out on the upper floors of the four-story building and spread downward before firefighters were able to contain the blaze. The fire destroyed the entire rooftop of the building and most of the top floor. Bult in 1904 and comprising some 22,400 square feet, the building was for decades known as the Great Northern Hotel - and in later years as the De Soto Hotel - had rented out rooms on a long-term basis. In the last two decades, the building was also known for its extensive boxer’s mural on the N. Stanton Street side of the structure, otherwise known as the “Boxer’s Hall of Fame,” which is thought to be one of the largest boxing murals in the country and was completed in 2004. The owner of the building, businessman Rogelio Gonzalez, had earlier announced plans to undertake a $1.2 million renovation of the hotel. Two months ago the El Paso City Council voted to approve nearly $60,000 in fee and tax rebates for a project that would have seen an entirely restored hotel with 34 rooms and first floor commercial space. In a statement, El Paso City Manager Tommy Gonzalez said, “We believe it extremely unfortunate to see this building destroyed by a fire, just as we were bringing it back to life with the help of a private partner who was eager and willing to re-activate the blighted hotel and work to preserve the iconic murals on the western side of the building.” By Garry Boulard The Arizona Senate Appropriations Committee has voted to approve legislation that will provide millions of dollars in funding for the upkeep of local, regional, and state parks. The money would come from the Arizona Heritage Fund, an entity created as the result of a statewide referendum in 1990 but discontinued some 12 years ago due to the Great Recession. Although lawmakers restored the fund three years ago, the actions of the Appropriations Committee will allow for it to receive new money from lottery funds. The action comes as lawmakers are also reviewing a proposal made by Governor Doug Ducey asking for $176.1 million in spending on public parks throughout Arizona. Ducey has called for a “44-project strategy that will serve as a catalyst in modernizing the parks system, improving park facilities and expanding broadband connectivity.” Of that amount, the largest portion at $86 million will go for wastewater improvement projects within the parks; $28 million will target structural improvements; while $10 million will be used to make sure all the parks’ structures and trails are Americans with Disabilities Act compliant. A recent study called Economic Contributions & Impacts of Arizona’s State Parks showed that spending within Arizona from people visiting the state’s parks amounted to more than $449 million in 2020. By Garry Boulard |
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