A new mixed-use project, featuring ten town houses, may soon be built on currently vacant desert land some six miles to the north of downtown Tucson. Tucson-based developer Town West wants to build not only the new town houses, but also a restaurant and four-story boutique hotel on property near the intersection of East River Road and North Campbell Avenue. The structures will go up in what is envisioned as a community setting. The proposed project at the base of the Catalina Foothills will be the subject of several public hearings in the next month. Ultimately, the project will require rezoning of the site in question in order to proceed. That rezoning would allow for the town houses to be rented out, while also permitting greater density at the site. Current zoning in the sparsely populated area allows for the construction of only one house per acre. The project site is located just to the north of the St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church at 4440 N. Campbell Avenue. That church was built in 1936 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. By Garry Boulard
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Work is expected to begin later this fall on an extensive renovation of the Harkins Theater in Gilbert, Arizona. That location is part of the more than thirty sites owned and operated by Harkins in Arizona, California, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas, and will see an updating of auditorium space, as well as the construction of a lobby bar. The theater is located in the sprawling San Tan Village shopping center in the 2200 block of Williams Field Road. The location’s upgrading is part of a larger effort to renovate Harkins’ theaters in Chandler, Peoria, and Scottsdale. Renovation work is also expected to launch later this year, or early next year, at the Harkins Theater in the Tucson Spectrum shopping mall in Tucson. Earlier this year, the Scottsdale-based company announced construction plans for a new 12-screen theater in Phoenix’s Laveen Village. The project is expected to see completion in the latter part of 2020. The company has additionally started construction of its new corporate offices off McDonald Drive in Scottsdale. That $32 million project will also include space for retail tenants. Launched as a family-owned, one-theater operation in 1933, the Harkins Theater company today comprises the fifth largest theater chain in the country. By Garry Boulard The federal Department of Transportation has announced that Arizona will be getting around $90 million in grant funding through the agency’s Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program. That money will pay for the expansion of Interstate 17 just to the north of Phoenix, while also adding eight miles of a flex lane system. State officials have been focusing on I-17’s expansion, not just due to it being a busy highway, but also because it is a route that experiences an extraordinary amount of congestion and accidents. The funding for the Arizona project is part of an overall $885 million in INFRA grants that the Transportation Department is releasing. That funding is going to both large and small planned infrastructure projects in just over a dozen states. In a statement, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said the new grant funding will “improve major highways, bridges, ports and railroads around the country to better connect our communities, and to enhance safety and economic growth.” The INFRA program is also sending to Colorado’s Department of Transportation nearly $8.3 million for the construction of around a dozen miles of passing lanes in the southeast corner of the state. That work will see the enhancement of US. Route 287, a project that has been in the planning stage for several years. Slicing through a major agricultural corridor of the state, the route is mostly made up of two lanes, and has also in recent years seen an increase in fatalities. The funding, said Colorado Senator Cory Garner, will not just help upgrade 287’s infrastructure, but will also “create a more efficient path for commercial freight to travel in and out of southeast Colorado.” The INFRA grant program was created in 2015 as part of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act and is specifically designed to fund projects focused on repairing crumbling infrastructure. By Garry Boulard A vacant lot in Fort Collins’ Old Town neighborhood may soon see the construction of a new four-story senior housing project with at least 160 individual units. The project is a joint venture between MorningStar Senior Living, Haselden Real Estate Development of the city of Centennial, and Fort Collins developer J.D. Padilla of Post Modern Development. Plans for the 3-acre site additionally include the construction of around 20,000 square feet of both office and retail space, as well as a parking garage with room for up to 500 vehicles. The site, at the intersection of College Avenue and Maple Street, has been vacant for the most part of the last decade, but was formerly the home of several small retail operations. Padilla purchased the property, known as Block 23, in early 2015. Work is expected to begin on the new complex sometime early next year, with a rough completion date of summer 2021. According to city documents, the complex will house a combination of both assisted care and memory care units, as well as an aerobics room, salon, art room, and swimming pool. U.S. Census figures peg the current senior population of Fort Collins at around 15 percent, but it’s a number that, according to analysts, could increase to 25 percent in the next decade. By Garry Boulard unfinished grand junction airport building could be the future home for bureau of land management8/20/2019 A building belonging to the Grand Junction Regional Airport that has been sitting empty for six years could become the new headquarters office for the Bureau of Land Management. Work on the structure, located next to the airport’s main terminal, was halted due to a federal fraud investigation, leaving airport officials with the choice of committing nearly $10 million to finally complete the building or demolish it altogether. Now, a third choice is being considered with the announcement last July that the Bureau of Land Management has decided to move its headquarters from Washington to Grand Junction. Since that announcement, city officials in Grand Junction have wondered whether the Bureau of Land Management will build an entirely new structure for its offices or re-purpose an existing building. The idea that the bureau may want to move into the abandoned airport structure has only recently been seen as an option, with reports suggesting that it would make more sense to use the building for a new purpose than demolish it. It is estimated that it would cost at least $900,000 for the airport to demolish the structure. It is not known when the Bureau of Land Management will decide on where in Grand Junction to set up its new offices. By Garry Boulard Although work on a portion of a U.S./Mexico border wall in Arizona was scheduled to start by late August, that project may now not officially launch until October. As planned, the border project going through the the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, as well as the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, would see the construction of 40 miles of bollard wall. That wall, comprised of steel posts filled with concrete, would measure at least 30 feet in height. But a lawsuit filed against the Department of Homeland Security, which is tasked with building the wall, is charging that that structure would be a threat to endangered species in the area. That lawsuit has been filed jointly by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Defenders of Wildlife. According to a Homeland Security filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the new border wall construction will most likely be divided into three parts, with work on a two-mile segment in the Organ Pipe National Monument starting first. A construction schedule for the other portions of the project has not yet been announced. Depending upon what the U.S. District Court rules, construction on that first segment of that wall could begin next month. By Garry Boulard One of the most popular shopping centers in metro Las Cruces is almost certain to undergo a change as officials begin finalizing a new comprehensive plan for the city. Opened in 1981, the Mesilla Valley Mall, located at 700 S. Telshor Boulevard, has seen a number of tenants come and go in the decades since, but the site surrounding the mall has always remained the same. Now, in developing what will be a 20-year master plan, officials are thinking about the possibility of making the mall and the 77-acre site that it sits on more user-friendly. That would mean the addition of rows of trees edging various sections of the site, and such community amenities as an open plaza, splash pad, and playground. The comprehensive plan, otherwise known as Elevate Las Cruces, is being designed with an eye on population trends, land use, economic development, and community needs. With public input as a part of a process that has been ongoing since last year, the plan is expected to be completed and presented to the public this coming December. How the look and feel of the mall site will change depends upon what the final plan contains and how much of it is adopted. Some suggestions for the site also include the building of a public library branch, transit accessibility, and even possible new housing in the form of row houses. The Mesilla Valley Mall measures more than 602,000 square feet, comprising one of the largest shopping centers in New Mexico. By Garry Boulard Work could begin next spring on a new four-story apartment complex set to go up on the growing west side of Colorado Springs. That area of the city has become increasingly popular, primarily because it is only 5 miles to the west of downtown Colorado Springs. The development company Goodwin Knight wants to build what will be 54 efficiency and one-bedroom apartment units, ranging in size from 376 square feet to 665 square feet, at the northeast corner of Colorado Avenue and South Chestnut Street. The site in question is currently a parking lot. The Colorado Springs-based Goodwin Knight group spearheaded the construction two years ago of the 22 Spruce Apartments, an infill project complex with 48 apartment units, also in Colorado Springs. The project will be going up in a part of the city emphasizing village-like walkable space and populated with one-story retail and restaurant offerings. By Garry Boulard Enjoying an annual job growth rate of 6.6 percent, the Texas construction industry is being seen as one of the major reasons for the Lone Star’s strong employment numbers. According to the most recent Department of Labor statistics, construction jobs in Texas so far this year have seen a 6.6 percent increase, accounting for 48,400 new jobs. Those numbers are now leading the nation, ahead of much larger California, which has so far in 2019 seen a 4.3 percent increase in construction work, representing 37,100 new jobs. Only two other states this year have seen additions of more than 10,000 construction jobs: Florida with 21,300 and Arizona at 17,400. Texas also recorded the most new construction jobs nationally in July, with an increase of 6,300. A separate report just issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas is additionally predicting that more than 330,000 new jobs will have been created in Texas by the end of this year. In metro El Paso, according to the most recent report issued by the Texas Workforce Commission, the construction, logging, and mining industries combined accounted for 18,300 jobs as of last month—a 14.4 percent increase over July of 2018. The combined unemployment rate for all industries in El Paso as of last month stood at 4.1 percent, down from 4.5 percent a year ago. By Garry Boulard A more than 50 year-old hotel in downtown Albuquerque, originally opened in the summer of 1965, will soon be getting an upgrade and a new look. Formerly known as The Hotel Blue, the structure at Central Avenue and 8th Street will undergo an estimated $22 million renovation, turning the six-floor building into a luxury boutique property. The project will see the creation of 136 rooms, a renovated swimming pool and patio area, meeting space, and both coffee shop and bar. The project belongs to a group called Arrive Albuquerque, which is part of the Los Angeles-based Arrive Hotels & Restaurants chain. Funding to upgrade the 75,000 square foot building will partly be coming through the issuance of city Industrial Revenue Bonds. Originally branded as the Downtowner, the Central Avenue hotel was part of the Memphis-based Downtowner Corporation hotel chain whose heyday lasted roughly from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. Downtowner hotels were usually located in a city’s urban core, but fell out of favor in the 1970s and 80s when most of the national chain hotels and motels were built just off of major interstate exchanges. After several changes in ownership, the Albuquerque Downtowner was renamed in 2001 as The Hotel Blue. In a statement, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller hailed the plans for the hotel’s renovation, noting in part: “This project will help us meet a need for hotel rooms to boost the use of the Convention Center.” By Garry Boulard |
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