Construction could begin next year on a new manufacturing facility that could eventually cost as much as $12 billion to compete. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, based in Hsinchu, Taiwan, announced last spring that it wanted to build its second U.S. manufacturing facility in the metro Phoenix area. At the time of that announcement, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said the project was destined to “change the landscape of our community in a huge, positive way.” In recent months, the company has been working with state and local officials to find a location and now appears to be interested in a 3,700-acre vacant site on the northern side of the city. That site, located around 30 miles to the north of downtown Phoenix, is located at the northwest corner of Loop 303 and 43rd Avenue. The next step in the process of the Taiwan company actually building in Phoenix will require a city-approved rezoning of the site in question. Founded in 1987, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has seen annual revenues in excess of $35 billion. The company’s revenues increased by another nearly 30% earlier this year. Plans call for a gradual building out of the new Phoenix facility, with operations beginning in 2024. By Garry Boulard
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The next step leading to the construction of a long-hoped for soccer stadium in Albuquerque has been taken. The name of a consulting company with experience in stadium work has been advanced to the Albuquerque City Council to study the project’s feasibility. That firm, Creative Arts Agency Icon, which is based in Denver, is one of a handful of firms that responded to a Request for Proposals issued by the city last month. That RFP was looking for a firm to conduct a multi-purpose stadium feasibility study, exploring such matters as site evaluation and the economic impact of a facility that could house anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 seats. The RFP also noted that the project might well include an “art/cultural center component,” which could house art exhibits and cultural events, along with some commercial, retail and housing development in the overall site. The stadium idea has been enthusiastically embraced by local and regional soccer fans and the leadership of the Albuquerque-based New Mexico United soccer team. Earlier this year, members of the New Mexico State Legislature approved $4.1 million in capital outlay funds for the stadium project, including paying for the feasibility study. Creative Arts Agency Icon has taken on successful and large stadium projects in Arizona, California, and Colorado, among other states. The New Mexico United soccer team, playing in the United Soccer League Championship, was established in the summer of 2018 and has regularly attracted upwards of 14,000 spectators per game. In a statement, State Senator Jacob Candelaria, who long supported construction of a new stadium, said the proposed soccer complex will serve as an economic catalyst that “reimagines what a multi-use facility can be for the community.” If approved by the city council, Creative Arts Agency Icon is expected to take around 100 days to complete the feasibility study. By Garry Boulard Legislation designed to encourage the timely completion of airport construction projects is now working its way through Congress. The Expedited Delivery of Airport Infrastructure Act of 2020 will allow for the use of incentive payments for projects that are funded through the federal Airport Improvement Program. It has now cleared both the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, as well as the larger House itself. The legislative proposal is unusual in the sense that industry experts appear to unanimously agree that such incentives work, while at the same time the bill has not so far sparked any opposition. A companion version of the bill was passed by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee unanimously. “Incentive payments have been proven to be effective in other areas of construction,” noted Jeff Davis, a senior fellow with the Eno Center for Transportation. In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Davis added: “The nature of heavy construction is that time is money. The longer that a project takes from conception to completion, the more the cost goes up.” The measure particularly allows airports to use up to $1 million to incentivize any given project. “This is a smart reform that already works for road and bridge project construction,” said Missouri Representative Sam Graves, the sponsor of the legislation in the House. In a statement, Graves continued: “Delivering airport projects ahead of schedule can help save money and essentially provide a similar impact as increasing investment without any additional federal resources.” The measure is now awaiting final approval in the full Senate. By Garry Boulard Colorado may see the construction of a new Veterans Administration hospital. In a press conference while visiting the Mountain Regional VA Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado Senator Cory Gardner said, “It is critically important that we build a new VA hospital in Colorado Springs.” In a later statement, the Senator added: “I firmly believe one of the ways we can achieve increased access to services, especially with the projections for rapid growth in the veteran population in El Paso County, is through a VA hospital in Colorado Springs.” The Veterans Administration currently operates four outpatient clinics in Colorado. In the spring of 2018 the department completed a massive $1.8 billion medical center in Aurora. That center, roughly 80 miles to the north of Colorado Springs, entails a driving distance nearly twice as long as the recommended distance between a veteran’s residence and the nearest VA medical facility. A new Colorado Springs facility would additionally serve the estimated 83,000 veterans living in surrounding El Paso County, comprising around 15% of the county’s population. Colorado’s overall veteran population has increased by around 70% over the course of the last decade, increasing the patient load at the state’s existing VA medical centers and clinics. Gardner said he intends to introduce legislation is the Senate calling for the construction of a new VA center in Colorado Springs. A timeline for when the facility may be built has not been released. The Veterans Health Administration currently operates just over 170 medical centers nationally, as well as nearly 1,100 outpatient clinics. By Garry Boulard The City of Las Cruces has issued a Request for Proposals for both preservation and selective demolition work at the famous downtown Amador Hotel. Advertised in 1923 in the El Paso Herald as the “Southwest’s Most Interesting Hotel,” the Amador is listed on both the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties, as well as the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1885, the structure at the intersection of Amador and Water streets was for decades regarded as one of the premiere hotels of its kind in New Mexico, before being repurposed in 1969 as a bank by the local Citizens Bank. It was subsequently sold to Dona Ana County and used for administrative offices before being sold again, this time to the city, which has since spent the most part of the last decade spearheading efforts to return the two-story structure to its original glory. That has meant preserving such things as the hand-crafted wooden balconies and exposed vigas, while doing away with latter-day architectural details not in keeping with the design of the original building. Because a complete renovation of the structure was earlier pegged at $8 million, an effort has been underway to do that work in phases, with the idea of turning the structure partly into an events center hosting wedding receptions, graduation parties, and business meetings. Ironically, the events component is one of the functions the Amador provided during its heyday as a hotel. Earlier this year the New Mexico State Legislature approved $225,000 for the continued renovation, while the project is also subject to funding through Tax Incremental Development District revenue. The latest work, with the city looking for a contractor with historic preservation experience, is expected to be a $500,000 project. The RFP has a submission deadline of November 5. By Garry Boulard The price of framing lumber has dropped by around $200 per thousand feet board in the last month, according to various reports, although overall the price is still at an historic high. Those prices initially shot up this spring during the initial weeks of the Covid-19 economic shutdown, due largely to a sudden demand that far outstripped supply. Between April and mid-summer, lumber prices increased by almost 120%. According to the National Association of Home Builders, that increase was thought to have added around $16,000 to the price of an average new single-family home. But in the weeks since mid-September, the price has actually decreased by 20%, from $950 per thousand board feet to $750. Analysts say the main reasons for this year’s lumber increase are related to the unanticipated increase in purchases for home expansion and repair projects, a higher tariff on Canadian lumber, and mill operators who slowed down production this spring. In response to the nationwide demand for more lumber, a number of industry groups have since called on U.S. lumber producers to increase output, sending pleas to President Trump and members of Congress expressing their concerns. The housing news site YieldPro notes that while the price of soft plywood products has seen the greatest increase this year, hardwood lumber and softwood lumber prices have remained fairly steady since late 2019. By Garry Boulard A popular retail consignment service has announced plans to set up a new location in Phoenix, and may be doing so in either an existing or newly-built structure. RealReal, Incorporated is based in San Francisco and sells everything from luxury clothing to jewelry and home décor, among other items. Launched nearly a decade ago, the company has proven significantly successful, seeing revenues of more than $300 million and securing, in 2018, up to $288 million in venture capital funding. As both an online and actual building presence, the premise of the company is simple: it lists luxury items for sale on a consignment basis, a premise successful enough for RealReal to open new locations in Los Angeles and New York. Those locations vary in size between 6,000 and 12,000 square feet. Last year the company also opened a nearly 500,000 square foot distribution center in New Jersey. Now the company wants to set up an e-commerce center in Phoenix. In the process, RealReal has said it expects to hire just under 1,700 people in the next 5 years. Members of the Phoenix City Council have given their unanimous approval to an incentives agreement. The company has not announced yet where it will locate its new Phoenix outlet. By Garry Boulard A company specializing in the development of single family homes for the rental market has announced plans to build 267 such structures in the growing city of El Mirage, some 20 miles to the northwest of Phoenix. The project will belong to NexMetro Communities, which recently purchased a 32-acre site in El Mirage for the new single-story homes. With well over two dozen similar projects either completed or in the building process in the Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, and Tampa markets, NexMetro emphasizes single family rental houses with surrounding community amenities including swimming pools, dog parks, and club houses. The emphasis on rental housing over traditional rental apartment units is seen by analysts as an increasing segment of the industry. According to a study conducted by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, such projects in recent years have comprised nearly 40% of the overall rental market. According to reports, NexMetro purchased the El Mirage site for just under $6 million. El Mirage is proving a particularly hot rental market, in part because the city’s population has more than tripled in the last two decades, and now stands at nearly 36,000. By Garry Boulard Warehouse construction projects are leading the most recent Dodge Momentum Index, with the overall commercial side of that index showing a healthy 7.4% gain in the third quarter of this year. The Index, which measures nonresidential building projects in the planning stage, showed that overall there was a 3.7% increase for all construction activity nationally in September. Published by Dodge Data & Analytics, the Index also indicated that commercial projects were up by 3.9%, followed by institutional projects, with a 3.2% gain. After a dramatic pandemic economy-induced decline in June, the Index has lowly inched upward since and has now gained overall some 2.2% since mid-summer. The warehouse sector has proven particularly buoyant, especially with online retail giant Amazon announcing plans to build several new massive distribution centers. The Index additionally showed that as of last month, “seven projects with a value of $100 million or more,” had entered the planning stage, with projects valued between $110 million and $250 million in Alabama, California, and Illinois. Dodge Data & Analytics provides construction project data and marketing forecasting, among other services. A press release issued by the company notes that through the first nine months of the year, total non-residential building starts were down 18%, with decreases recorded in environmental public works and utility/gas plant categories. One bright spot: the highway and bridge category, which posted a 2% gain in September. By Garry Boulard An ambitious project that could see the construction of a hotel, events center, and exhibition space has been unveiled by officials with the Taos Pueblo in northern New Mexico. What is being billed as a heritage center, will go up on a 14.3-acre site at 501 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, north of the mixed-use and popular Taos Plaza. That site, which currently includes a 14,000 square foot mansion built in the 1930s, was at one point owned by painter and philanthropist Duane Van Vechten, who worked in a studio on the property. The heritage center will also include a town square and will be designed to both promote the history and culture of the Puebloan people and the ancient Taos Pueblo, but also to serve as a source of regional economic development. In a presentation made to the Taos Town Council, Gary Lujan, Taos Pueblo war chief, said the center will “complement what is already in place in the Town of Taos and enhance the Taos Valley as a destination place and for visitors to come and enjoy what we have here in the Taos Valley.” The site was formerly the home of the Lineberry Estate, which the Taos Pueblo purchased in the fall of 2018. That site, ironically, was once a part of the original Taos Pueblo’s property. As envisioned, work on the project will entail three phases, with the first devoted to infrastructure construction and upgrading of the mansion; the second centered on the building of an underground parking structure; and the third seeing the construction of the main heritage center building. Total funding for the project, with the Albuquerque-based Peter Butterfield Architects serving as designer, has not yet been secured, although it is expected that some backing may be found through a federal Economic Development Administration grant. Early stage development work on the ambitious project could begin sometime next spring. By Garry Boulard |
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