The grounds hosting the annual and hugely popular Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta are expected to see a variety of facility upgrades in the months ahead. The Balloon Fiesta was first held in 1972 and saw the launching of just over a dozen hot air balloons. Today that number is up to more than five hundred. But as the popularity of the event at the Balloon Fiesta Park has grown with nearly 1 million visitors last year, so has the stress on the site itself. Last month New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham gave her signature to a capital outlay earlier approved by state lawmakers of around $15.7 million for work at the Fiesta Park. That work, according to a description of the legislation, may be used for upgrades to the site’s water, sewer, and electrical systems. Additional work will see restrooms improvements. Some $150,000, meanwhile, will also target improvements to the park’s baseball fields and baseball cages. Plans are also in the works for road, parking lot, and walkway improvements. City officials have also indicated that they would like to have more space for balloon landings. The first Balloon Fiesta event, in April of 1972, was held in the parking lot of the Coronado Center Shopping Mall. After several other location changes, it was permanently moved in 1986 to a site of vast acreage at 4401 Alameda Boulevard NE. By Garry Boulard
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New home-buying may be taking a hit as the nation’s mortgage rates have now hit their highest level since last November. According to a seasonally adjusted index published by the Mortgage Bankers Association, the average contract interest rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage has hit the 7.2% mark, up from 7.1% last month. Not surprisingly, the mortgage rate increase has led to a decline of 2.7% in new mortgage applications. The decline, noted Joel Kan, a deputy chief economist with the association, came as “home buyers delayed their purchase decisions due to strained affordability and low supply.” In a statement, Kan also noted that the adjustable-rate mortgage share of applications has increased to 7.6%, which he said is “consistent with the upward trend in rates, as buyers look to reduce their potential monthly payments.” Meanwhile, applications for refinancing home loans have just fallen by 6%. The Mortgage Bankers Association report additionally noted that while the Federal Housing Administration share of total mortgage applications was up to 12.8%, “the Veterans Administration share of total applications decreased to 11.7% from 12.4% the week prior.” The impact of the mortgage rates increase on home buying remains uncertain. “Despite mortgage rates remaining stubbornly high, most housing market experts expect them to recede over 2024, assuming the Federal Reserve acts on its signaled interest rate cuts,” Forbes is reporting. But the publication continues: “Whether mortgage rates fade enough to create a meaningful shift in home affordability remains uncertain.” In a posting on the National Association of Realtors website, Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist with the group, remarked that the latest rates statistics are revealing a “spring landscape that is taking longer to bloom.” Noting a mixed bag of economic trends showing an increase in both pending home sales and personal consumption, but also a sluggish Gross Domestic Product, Lautz added: “The bottom line for spring homebuyers is that mortgage rates may show little dramatic downward movement any time soon.” By Garry Boulard Work could begin later this fall on the construction of a comprehensive and new academic building set to go up on the Boulder campus of the University of Colorado. The project has a reported price tag of $174.5 million and will measure around 79, 200 square feet. Set to house the school’s applied math and chemistry departments, the structure will also include both specialized quantum research laboratories and office space, as well as a 200-seat auditorium. Additional features: meeting spaces, student study areas, and a roof terrace. The school, with a current enrollment of just over 37,000, has taken on a number of significant building projects in the last decade, including the $57 million expansion of the main music education building in 2019, and a $130 million conference center and hotel in 2022. The new project, which won the approval earlier this month of the University of Colorado’s Board of Regents, will go up off Regent Drive on the south end of the campus. According to a press released issued by the university, the building’s mechanical system will be designed to use low-temperature hot water “in preparation for the eventual connection to a future district energy loop heated by electricity, in support of the university’s overarching decarbonization plans.” If all goes as expected, work on the structure will see completion in either late 2026 or early 2027. By Garry Boulard Funding Secured for Construction of New University of Arizona Extension Program Facility in Yuma4/26/2024 An innovative educational program operated by the University of Arizona in Yuma is making plans for a facility expansion. The university's Cooperative Extension program has received $5.5 million to help fund a project that has won the approval of the Yuma County Board of Supervisors. The cooperative extension program is an offshoot of UA’s agriculture and veterinary sciences curriculum and is tasked with applying technologies for increased agricultural production at the community level. The mission of the program, dating from its origins more than a century ago, has been, as UA says on its website, to “make science useful.” The program’s facilities in Yuma are located at 2200 W. 28th Street in a one-story structure that it shares with the Yuma County Public Health Services District. Yuma County has provided some 5,500 square feet in that facility for the program. According to county documents, Arizona law requires that Yuma must provide “reasonable office space” for the execution of the university’s extension effort. Those same documents indicate that the new facility will be built off of W. County 15th Street, some 8 miles to the south of downtown Yuma. Late last year, members of the Yuma County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of spending around $96,000 for a preliminary design of the new facility. Although an exact timetable for construction has not yet been announced, it is thought that work on the new Cooperative Extension structure could begin sometime next year. By Garry Boulard Around four million workers will qualify for overtime pay beginning in January once a new rule just released by the Department of Labor is enacted. The Labor Department’s rule increases the salary threshold for overtime pay from just under the current nearly $44,000 to around $58,600. The Department has further announced that such salary thresholds will be routinely updated every three years, beginning on July 1, 2027. The new rule, said Julie Su, acting director of the Labor Department, “will restore the promise to people that if you work more than 40 hours a week, you should be paid for that time.” “Too often, lower-paid salaried workers are doing the same job as their hourly counterparts but are spending more time away from their families for no additional pay,” Su continued in a statement, adding: “That is unacceptable.” The overtime ruling has been a long time coming. In 2016, then-President Obama asked the Labor Department to increase the salary threshold to $47,476 a year. That action was subsequently subject to litigation on behalf of nearly half of the states and a host of business groups, leading to a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in Texas. In the summer of 2017 the Trump Administration announced that it would not go to bat for the new threshold. The overtime issue has been particularly criticized by smaller businesses which have contended that an increased threshold would prove economically burdensome. “This will not just increase costs for small businesses, but ultimately the consumers as well,” remarked Anne Reinke, chief executive officer of the Transportation Intermediaries Association. In the wake of the new DOL rule, Chris Netram, vice president of policy for the National Association of Manufacturers, said the action places new constraints on employers, and “reduces flexibility for the workers who will be reclassified.” Netram additionally remarked that the DOL action may “force companies to make painful choices that will limit both job creation and growth opportunities available to employees.” Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO characterized the new rule as one that is important for working families. The AFL-CIO leader earlier remarked that “employers who do not wish to pay additional overtime will now no longer be able to rely on unpaid overtime, and instead will have to reassess the way they distribute workloads to their employees.” By Garry Boulard A two-day auction for an 18,000-square-foot flex building located in Grants is scheduled to start on May 28. Located at 113 Gold Avenue, the one-story structure is listed as a Class B building and sits on a 1.3-acre site in a neighborhood of small retail operations and garages. The building has recently been the home of a company called United Projects Roofing & Restoration, and before that served as a NAPA Auto & Truck Parts store. It stands out visually due to a series of colorful murals to the front, side, and rear of the structure. Situated within the boundaries of a designated Opportunity Zone, the building is geared for light manufacturing, and could also be used as a warehouse or general retail department store. The Grants real estate market in recent years has been somewhat flat, in part reflecting statistics showing that the city, with 9,100 people, has lost population from a high of just over 11,400 in the 1980s. With the auction listed by realtors Hayden Outdoors Real Estate, whose corporate office is located in Windsor, Colorado, the property has a minimum $150,000 starting bid. By way of comparison, a similar sized industrial or commercial structure in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, or Santa Fe might fetch more than $1 million. By Garry Boulard In a move designed to increase the number and variety of building projects located near its main light rail line, the City of Phoenix is receiving some $1.2 million in federal funds to facilitate those projects. The money is coming through the Federal Transit Administration in the form of a Transit Oriented Development grant and will be used to evaluate possible affordable housing and development projects within walking distance of a Valley Metro Rail station. In announcing the grant, Mayor Kate Gallego remarked that transit-oriented development has become an “inextricable part of our mission to build a Phoenix that works for everyone.” The Mayor added that the funding will “help us build a more dynamic city that seamlessly connects residents to work, the grocery store, to schools or their doctor’s office—all without having to rely on a car.” The funding is also especially expected to be used to assess building project possibilities on “city-owned, vacant, and large development sites.” Phoenix has a long history with transit-oriented developments, having launched its light rail service in 2008 and shortly thereafter beginning a protracted effort that has seen the development of some 2,200 housing units located along the rail’s corridor. Three new light rail stations currently being built in the city’s downtown area are expected to be operative in 2025. Altogether, the Federal Transit Administration this month has awarded around $17.6 million in grants for transit-oriented development efforts in 16 states. By Garry Boulard In a move to help construction firms stay abreast of new greenhouse gas emission standards, the Associated General Contractors of America has just released a comprehensive survey of instructions. In a statement, Jeff Shoaf, AGC chief executive officer, say the documents will help firms “understand the basics of tracking carbon emissions, including who is responsible for those emissions, how to track them and what are the best ways to cut them.” The AGC Playbook on Decarbonization and Carbon Reporting in the Construction Industry is particularly designed to ensure that builders play a proactive role in putting together carbon-reduction measures with their individual projects. Noting that buildings in the U.S. consume nearly 40% of the nation’s energy, a source that powers lighting, heating and cooling, and both appliances and electronics, the document reports that “as more owners and developers are required to report on carbon data, contractors are increasingly seeing some form of sustainability program requirements or carbon tracking stipulations within Requests for Proposals.” Builders can put together such data at two levels: project-level reporting “can help a company assess the performance of its construction projects, such as building energy-efficient buildings, installing renewable energy systems, or using low-carbon materials.” Corporate-level reporting, meanwhile, “can help a company track and manage greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations across its project portfolio, such as total fuel consumption, electricity use, water generation, or employee travel.” The document spells out a four-step process that all builders can follow to make clear who should be responsible for different carbon emissions standards associated within a given construction project. It additionally spells out the carbon emissions related to such materials as asphalt, concrete, flat glass, and steel. “This is the first document of its kind written by contractors, for contractors, to help them assess the impacts of the projects they are hired to build,” remarked Shoaf. The AGC leader added: “Our goal is to make sure our members have clear, actionable, and replicable resources to understand their responsibilities, measure their impacts of their projects, and operate as efficiently as possible.” By Garry Boulard A coalition of business and industry groups in Colorado have decided to go to court in opposition to a series of new rules addressing green building issues. In their suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado in Denver, the Colorado Apartment Association, Apartment Association of Metro Denver, the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association, and the state chapter of NAIOP—the commercial real estate development association, said that the new rules are proving unnecessarily onerous. Specifically mentioning that those rules, as promulgated by both the State of Colorado and City of Denver, have addressed themselves to the performance of heating and cooling systems in structures, the litigants are also asserting that the costs of compliance will inevitably be handed down to tenants. “They’re attacking a small emission problem with a very expensive fix,” Andrew Hamrick, senior vice president for both apartment associations, said of the new rules to the Denver Post. At the heart of the new rules is a push to do away with natural gas use in large office and commercial buildings, as well as apartment complexes. This means that building owners, in order to comply with the rules, will be required to do away with all natural gas heating systems. Three years ago, the Denver City Council gave its approval to the Energize Denver plan, which called for reducing by 100% all greenhouse gas emissions for large buildings in the city within the next two decades. The Colorado State Legislature additionally passed a measure requiring buildings measuring more than 50,000 square feet to see a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2030. According to reports, up to 8,000 large building owners across Colorado could be compelled to spend more than $3.1 billion in order to comply with the new rules. A report published earlier this year by the Colorado Springs Gazette said that over the course of the next three decades, owners will be compelled to spend upwards of $2.6 billion on retrofitting projects, along with $61 million in labor and related costs. The heart of the lawsuit filed by the groups is simple: they are asking the court to discard both the state and city regulations on the matter. By Garry Boulard The results of a feasibility study are expected to be announced this summer regarding the construction of a second bridge that would cross the Bridgewater Channel in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The first bridge is both famous and historic: the former London Bridge that was completed in 1831 and crossed the River Thames in Great Britain. A project that won international attention in 1968 saw entrepreneur Robert McCulloch purchasing, dismantling, and moving the granite structure block by block for $2.4 million, after work on a new steel and concrete bridge in London was underway. McCulloch, one of the founders and elders of Lake Havasu City, thought reassembling the bridge and putting it back together in an Arizona location of less than 4,000 residents would be of great publicity value. And he was right: the inaugural ceremonies for the bridge, once it was operative in Lake Havasu City in the fall of 1971, was covered on network news programs as well as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and London Times, among dozens of other publications. It is generally regarded to this day as the second most popular tourist attraction in Arizona, next to the Grand Canyon. In the decades since that 1971 inaugural, the bridge as the only way on and off Lake Havasu's island, has begun to feel congested, according to city officials. Earlier this year, Lake Havasu City Mayor Cal Sheehy said a second bridge could prove especially timely for a city that now has around 60,000 residents. Construction of a new bridge is expected to take up to three years to complete. The project has already secured $35 million in state funds. By Garry Boulard |
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