Plans have been announced for the construction of a new Dollar General outlet in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Those plans, which have been submitted to the City of Carlsbad’s building department, call for the store to be built just to the west of a Carlsbad Irrigation District canal in the 2200 block of W. Lea Street. The new store will make for the fourth such outlet in Carlsbad for the Goodlettsville, Tennessee-based chain. With a population that is just under 30,000 people, Carlsbad represents the kind of market in which Dollar General has traditionally thrived. With more than 16,500 stores national, the vast majority of which are in rural locations, Dollar General earlier this year announced plans to build exactly 1,000 new stores by the end of 2020. And unlike many other businesses, Dollar General has not been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. On the contrary, according to the company’s most recent earnings statements, Dollar General’s sales have grown by an unprecedented 22 percent in the first quarter of this year. “There can be little doubt that Dollar General is one of the major beneficiaries of the crisis,” the publication Chain Store Age recently noted of the chain’s success during the pandemic. With plans also underway to renovate up to 1,500 of its stores this year, a plan on track with the renovation work on 500 of those outlets already completed, analysts say the company has done particularly well because in many remote areas of the country it is the only store around. “We believe our unique brick-and-mortar footprint positions us well to continue delivering value and convenience to our customers, particularly at a time when they need us most,” Todd Vasos, Dollar General chief executive officer, remarked during the company’s most recent earnings statement, released late last month. While most of the chain’s stores have typically measured between 6,000 to 7,300 square feet, more recent locations have been as large as 9,100 square feet. Those stores have been overwhelmingly located to the east of the Mississippi River, with reports indicating that most of the new Dollar Generals will be built in the states of the West. By Garry Boulard
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After years of craft worker shortages, the national construction industry at last saw a levelling off of the problem in the early pre-COVID-19 months of this year. According to an extensive industry survey just released by the Arlington-based Association of Union Constructors, the number of responding construction companies reporting a craft workers shortage had declined as of the end of 2019. At the same time, respondents in the 2020 Union Craft Labor Supply Study said the percentage of needed craft workers in their firms increased, with the most significant upward numbers seen in the commercial and industrial sectors. Put another way, according to the survey, the change in craft labor shortages as of the early part of this year had shifted from a “growing shortage to a stable shortage.” Regionally, the survey showed that the shortage of craft workers was greatest in the Southwestern states, with 35 percent of firms reporting a lack of such workers; followed by the Northwest, with 31 percent recording shortages; and the South Central states at 30 percent. The smallest craft worker shortages were seen in New England, at 20 percent. The early 2020 survey also showed just how vibrant the building economy was, with 78 percent of responding firms reporting project growth, a number coming on the heels of on an equally large 76 percent from the year before. The growth numbers were particularly high in the civil and commercial/institutional sectors, where 87 percent and 99 percent of firms respectively reported project increases. In a press release from the Association of Union Constructors, the impact of COVID-19 is described as “upending conventional wisdom and compelling contractors, labor representatives, and owner-clients to deal with a dramatically altered business landscape.” But while the group’s annual survey predates by weeks the COVID-19 outbreak, the release added: “Knowing which areas of the country were experiencing labor shortages or surpluses pre-COVID-19 will be especially helpful in gauging where to allocate scarce resources” in the post-coronavirus recovery process. By Garry Boulard Responding to the growing demand for more apartment space in Mesa, Arizona, a Minneapolis-based developer has announced plans for the construction of a downtown lofts project. The Mesa Arts District Lofts will go up on a 9.7-acre site encompassing an entire city block that was formerly the home to a prominent car dealership. After the facilities for Brown and Brown Chevrolet were demolished three years ago, the site was viewed by several investors for its residential and commercial possibilities. The Opus Group has said that it not only wants to build some 345 residential lofts at the site, but also around 13,400 square feet of restaurant and commercial space that could be used for offices, health clubs, and other purposes. Members of the Mesa City Council have now approved a zoning amendment exempting the lofts project from having to build the retail space only at the ground level. But city officials point out that the council will in the future be taking another vote on the project as it pertains to the passing of an overall development agreement with the Opus Group. The company, which has offices in Phoenix, has been extensively involved in a number of multifamily, commercial, and industrial projects, largely in southern Arizona. By Garry Boulard In a part of Scottsdale, Arizona that has already seen an abundance of recent commercial, office, and residential growth, plans have been announced for the construction of a new and modern mixed-use project. Called the Scottsdale Collective, the project on a 10.2-acre site at the southeast corner of N. Scottsdale Road and E. Camelback Road, will include a 214-room hotel, as well as a more than 116,000 square foot residential tower. To be developed by the Los Angeles-based Stockdale Capital Partners and designed by RSP Architects, which has offices in Phoenix, the project will additionally include up to 41,000 square feet of residential space. According to the plans submitted to the City of Scottsdale, the goal of the project, near the city’s Entertainment District and Old Town Scottsdale, is to “evolve and mature the greater entertainment district area into a mixed-use district.” A vertically integrated real estate investment firm, Stockdale Capital Partners, has spearheaded upscale mixed-use projects across the country, with a particular focus on Arizona, California, and Texas. Late last year, the company purchased around 372,000 square feet of Class A office and research building space in the Scottsdale Airpark. Plans for the Scottsdale Collective now have to be reviewed and approved in the weeks ahead by both the Scottsdale Development Board as well as the Scottsdale City Council. By Garry Boulard A measure designed to address a wide variety of road and bridge infrastructure construction and upgrading issues is now under review in the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation Act, otherwise known as the INVEST in America Act, will provide some $494 billion over a period of five years to fund tens of thousands of infrastructure projects nationally. The legislation is designed to succeed the equally large Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, which is set to expire on September 30. As proposed by Peter Fazio, chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the new legislation includes $49 billion for local transportation projects; $28 billion for bridge construction and upgrading projects; and $9 billion in the form of discretionary grants for various freight, highway, and transit projects. Acknowledging the impact catastrophic weather events have had on some of the country’s transportation infrastructure in recent years, the INVEST Act also includes $6.2 billion for what is described as “pre-disaster mitigation” work, building alternatives to infrastructure repeatedly damaged by storms, hurricanes, and floods. In a statement, Fazio remarked that the “bulk of our nation’s infrastructure—roads, bridges, public transit and rail systems, the things that hundreds of millions of American families and businesses rely on every single day—is not only badly outdated, in many places its downright dangerous and holding our economy back.” Industry response to the proposal has so far been favorable, with Paul Skoutelas, chief executive officer of the American Public Transportation Association, predicting that the measure will “transform our nation’s infrastructure and put us on the path to build more equitable communities for all Americans.” The measure could make it out of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee by late June. Proponents will then be tasked not only with its passage in the House but also reconciling it with similar legislation in the Senate. President Trump has indicated an interest in signing a comprehensive transportation bill this year. By Garry Boulard Work could begin soon on the construction of a 100-megawatt solar plant designed to provide enough power for up to 40,000 residences in Dona Ana County. The project is part of a purchased power agreement between El Paso Electric and the growing Chicago-based Hecate Energy. The idea behind the desert project is to provide electricity at $14.99 per megawatt hour, making what is being called the Hecate Project the lowest-cost utility scale solar project in the country. When plans for constructing the facility were initially announced late last year, Alex Pugh, development manager with Hecate, said the Santa Teresa project would be notable both for its “significant scale and for how it is pressing the limits on how economically we can deliver solar power.” Now, members of New Mexico’s Public Regulation Commission have given their approval to the longterm purchased power agreement between El Paso Electric and Hecate. The project is part of a larger quest on behalf of El Paso Electric to expand its renewable resources in an effort to comply with the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard. That standard requires that at least 20 percent of the utility company’s energy sales must come from renewable energy. For its part, Hecate Energy, launched in 2012, is currently managing nearly two dozen energy projects around the world. Its projects in this country have been primarily centered on the East coast, as well as throughout Texas. It is thought that work on the Santa Teresa Hecate Project will take less than two years, with a contemplated early 2022 completion date. By Garry Boulard The Federal Transit Administration has awarded $2.9 million in grant funding that will go partly for the construction of dedicated electric charging stations. The funding is part of a larger $130 million in grants provided by the FTA nationally for both the purchase of electric or zero-emission buses, as well as the construction of related supporting facilities. In a statement, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said the grant funding is specifically designed to “help communities nationwide deploy the next generation of bus technology to enhance their transportation system.” The infrastructure component of projects funded across the country is entirely centered on the building and/or acquisition of charging stations. Such charging stations are typically built at fueling station locations, public parking areas, and various business sites. Funding for the Land of Enchantment will go directly to the New Mexico Department of Transportation. To date, New Mexico has seen the construction of more than 200 charging facilities statewide, primarily for light-duty electric vehicles. Earlier this spring, the New Mexico Environment Department announced the awarding of $4.6 million in funds to be used for the construction of an additional two dozen charging stations in metro Albuquerque. A recent report issued by the New York-based P&S Market Research forecasts that the electric bus charging station market nationally is expected to increase from the current more than $20 million to upwards of $184 million in the next four years. By Garry Boulard A published outlook synthesizing the views of nearly fifty economists, academics, and policy-makers is predicting a decline in the Gross Domestic Product of 5.6 percent between the final quarter of last year and the fourth quarter of 2020. As projected, that 5.6 percent figure will make for the most severe GDP decline since the year after the end of World War II. At the same time, the outlook survey indicates that a rebound during the second half of 2021 could see GDP growth of 3.6 percent, with the national economy recovering most of what it has lost due to the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent economic shutdown. The survey, conducted by the Washington-based National Association for Business Economics, also shows an ongoing nervousness as to whether or not the COVID-19 outbreak of earlier this year is truly in decline. While the Labor Department has just released figures showing the national unemployment rate at 13.3 percent as of last month, respondents to the survey said they thought the jobless rate will ultimately come in at about 10.9 percent by the end of the year. Some 87 percent of the survey’s respondents, said economist Eugenio Aleman, chairperson of the group’s survey effort, “view a second wave of COVID-19 as the greatest downside risk through 2020.” Just over half of the respondents, meanwhile, look at a COVID-19 vaccine as what they call an “upside risk for 2020” that will slow the spread of the virus and allow for a “broader reopening of the economy.” Respondents also predicted that more and more U.S. companies, as a result of the virus outbreak, are going to reduce their dependence on global supply chains. By Garry Boulard The former home of a biopharmaceutical plant in Boulder may soon be repurposed. AGC Biologics has announced its purchase of the 330,000 square foot facility that once belonged to the Astra Zeneca company, with plans to spend upwards of $100 million on transforming the building. The structure, sitting on just over 20 acres, was built in 1991. Located at 5550 Airport Boulevard on the northeast side of Boulder, the building has been vacant for more than a year after Astra Zeneca shuttered it in a company-wide consolidation effort. In a statement, Patricio Massera, chief executive officer with AGC Biologics, said the acquisition of the Boulder plant will support “AGC Biologics’ company-wide expansion initiative.” That initiative, continued Massera, is designed to “support our customers’ demand for mammalian projects, now and into the future.” More specifically, once the facility undergoes a major re-tooling, it will make it possible for AGC Biologics to advance the “development, manufacturing and commercial functions within our global company.” Based in Soborg, Denmark, AGC Biologics specializes in the development and manufacture of pre-clinical to commercial biopharmaceuticals. The company already has facilities up and running in Chiba, Japan; Heidelberg, Germany; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Seattle. Work to re-purpose the Boulder facility is expected to begin sometime later this summer, with an anticipated completion date of spring 2021. By Garry Boulard The City of Prescott has signed on to a preliminary agreement regarding the development of hundreds of acres of hill land on its northeast side. In a Letter of Intent, the city and a company called Arizona Eco Development, have committed to a swap that will see Prescott getting 750 acres of land. In exchange, Prescott will annex Granite Dells land that could see the eventual building of residential homes and a resort project. A press release issued by the city says the Letter of Intent balances the need to “preserve as many acres of the vital heart of the Dells, while still allowing the property owner to develop the land in a satisfactory way.” At the same time, the document said “water and other infrastructure to the property owner” will be provided. The Prescott-based Eco Development has said that it would like to build multi-family homes on the site in question, as well as a resort development, a prospect that has sparked the opposition of area residents, including a group called Save the Dells. But the Letter of Intent, if ultimately approved by the Prescott City Council, will allow the project to move forward, with an “upscale ecologically sensitive resort.” Talks between Prescott and Eco Development on the project have been underway for the last several years, and subject to a series of public input meetings. If the council agrees to ratify the Letter of Intent, it will then be subject to city staff review, additional public hearings, and a 60-day public comment period. Arizona Eco Development is a land-holding company that owns 15,000 acres in the Granite Dells and surrounding area. By Garry Boulard |
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