Members of the Phoenix City Council may decide next week during a regularly scheduled meeting to upgrade the home of the Phoenix Suns basketball team.

The Talking Stick Resort Arena, located at 201 E. Jefferson Street in downtown Phoenix, has been used by the Suns since it opened in 1992.

The arena, covering some 11 acres, is also used for concerts, ice shows, and other sporting events.

But the team, playing in the Western Conference Division of the National Basketball Association, has long been dissatisfied with the condition of the facility, which has a seating capacity of just over 18,000 and was built at a cost of $89 million.

Officials with the Suns have said that they want Phoenix to commit to a series of facility upgrades, and have suggested that if those upgrades aren’t forthcoming, they will move elsewhere in 2022.

Those upgrades could cost as much as $150 million. The City of Phoenix is also thinking about spending around $2 million annually just to keep the stadium in good condition.

According to reports, the Suns would also kick in $80 million for the stadium’s upkeep.

Although an earlier $400 million proposal to build a brand new arena went nowhere with the council, it is thought that members may prove more amenable to the $150 million proposal.

The area, which is one of the oldest in the NBA, was formerly known as the US Airways Center. It saw more than $70 million in facility upgrading and expansion 12 years ago.

By Garry Boulard

A Seattle-based pizza chain that has become the rage of the Millennial Generation is embarking on a plan to build new locations across the country.

Made on Demand Pizza, more popularly known as MOD Pizza, has received more than $185 million in equity capital, boasting of just over 300 stores last year at this time.

The chain, which features individual, artisan-style pizza built by customers, has now just opened its 400th store.

That store, in Kalispell, Montana, comes on the heels of new stores opened in recent months in Denver, Milwaukee, Tampa, and Gainesville, Florida, among other locations.

Launched in 2008, MOD Pizza currently has locations in more than 20 states, including Arizona, Colorado, and Texas.

Those locations generally measure around 2,600 square feet, often with additional patio space.

The company particularly focuses on areas with dense populations, often in college towns, and parts of cities that have a vibrant daytime working population.

Because of its rapid growth, MOD Pizza last year was selected for the Breakout Retailers Award by Chain Store Age magazine.  

By Garry Boulard

A long-contemplated plan to build a new training academy center for the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office is now in need of a site.

Earlier this month, Bernalillo County voters overwhelmingly approved a $38.7 million general obligation for a variety of park improvements, fire station improvements, and road and storm drain projects.

Included in the larger project is some $4.5 million for the land acquisition and design of a new training facility that would be used jointly by the Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Bernalillo County Fire Department.

Currently, the sheriff’s office trains its cadets on the fourth floor of a former county courthouse building at 415 Tijeras Avenue NW.

According to sources, what is officially called the Regional Training Academy has outgrown its space.

As proposed, the new academy center will have expanded training rooms, workout space, and classrooms.

The project will also be designed to allow for the construction of air support facilities for a sheriff’s office helicopter.

The program offered by the academy lasts for 23 weeks and entails more than 1,000 hours of training.

According to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office website, the training program is designed to subject cadets to “a series of rigorous mental, physical, academic, and emotional challenges.”

By Garry Boulard

School libraries that are a part of the Glendale Elementary School District in Arizona are expected to see upgrades funded by a $35 million bond approved this month by voters as part of an overall district facility improvement effort.

The vote was close: with 51 percent of district residents in favor of the bond and 49 percent opposed.

At the same time, voters in Colorado’s Fremont County overwhelmingly gave their approval to a proposal that will allow the county to build high-speed internet services to libraries and schools, among other users.

That measure passed with 73 percent of the vote.

In New Mexico, voters provided a nearly 69 percent victory for the statewide Public Libraries Bond, which will see the selling and issuing of around $12.9 million in bonds for school, public, and tribal libraries to buy new materials and expand their electronic services.

Sandoval County voters also gave a thumbs-up to a $3.3 million library general obligation library bond that will be used for making upgrades and improvements to more than a dozen libraries of varying size.

Of that figure, some $200,000 will go towards facility improvements for the county library in Cuba; while another $100,000 is being allocated to the county library in Cochiti Pueblo.

Other capital outlay allocations for the remaining fourteen libraries in the county will vary between $4,200 and $65,000.

By Garry Boulard

In a city in need of new apartment units, plans are in the works for the construction of up to 300 upper-end apartments.

The project would go up on the north side of Fort Collins on currently vacant land between Spaulding Lane and East Wilcox Lane in the city’s Pheasant Ridge neighborhood.

To be developed by the Indianapolis-based Watermark Residential, what is being called the Watermark at Fort Collins would see the construction of half a dozen 3-story buildings, and five 2-story buildings.

The project would also include fifty attached garages, additional parking space for more than five hundred vehicles, and a clubhouse.

Watermark Residential has become known for building upscale apartment complexes in primarily newer and wealthier suburban locations throughout Indiana, Colorado, and Texas, among other states.

Those projects are typically built near modern shopping complexes and major thoroughfares.

In order to make the Fort Collins project reality, Watermark wants to see the extension of the current north to south Redwood Street, which at present ends just short of East Wilcox.

More details regarding the Fort Collins project are expected to be released by Watermark shortly.

By Garry Boulard

It has taken more than a decade and a few lawsuits, but a new hospital may at long last be on the verge of getting built in Valencia County.

Members of the Valencia County Commission have voted unanimously in favor of entering into a contract with the Loveland Health System to get the project off the ground.

Although a site has not yet been selected, the facility is expected to measure anywhere from 12,000 to 20,000 square feet and will house 24/7 care with emergency room space, up to a dozen examination rooms, laboratory services and a pharmacy.

The new hospital will also have a section dedicated to the health care needs of Valencia County Detention Center inmates.

The move towards a new hospital comes more than 12 years after voters in Valencia County approved a mill levy, the revenue of which was supposed to be dedicated to the operation and maintenance of the new facility.

That means that more than $25 million has since been received by the county and put aside for the hospital’s future use.

Next challenge for the project is trying to find a site for its construction. The real estate services company, CBRE, of Albuquerque, has been brought in to help facilitate that process.

But Loveland Health System officials have said that they also plan to hold several community meetings in different parts of Valencia county in the coming weeks in the hope of hearing ideas regarding both the hospital and where it should be located.

By Garry Boulard

Fast on the heels of the successful passage of a general obligation bond providing up to $225 million for park construction work, Tucson city officials are now in the process of planning where and when that work will take place.

That bond, known as Proposition 407, was approved by Tucson residents with 54 percent of the vote.

Plans call for the park project to be done in three two-year phases between 2020 and 2028, and divided into five categories: pools and splash pads, sports fields and courts, playgrounds, new parks, and general city-wide park improvements.

The pool category will include the reopening of two pools and renovations to nearly two dozen other pools. The splash pad work means the construction of 14 new pads and renovation of another three.

Sports field work will see one new baseball field, five new little league fields, four new softball fields, six new multi-purpose fields, four new basketball courts, 22 new pickleball courts, and the very large renovation of 54 existing tennis courts.

In the playground category are plans for 20 new playgrounds, and the renovation of 36 already- existing playgrounds.

The construction of three brand new parks of varying size are also part of the bond plan.

In the days leading up to the vote, Mayor Jonathan Rothschild told the Arizona Daily Star that of the city’s 128 parks, the general obligation bond projects would impact 100 of them.

The Mayor added: “We are going to touch every pool, every tennis court, and we are going to add new playground equipment across the city.”

By Garry Boulard

Television viewers catching old shows of the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet may think they are watching a quaint version of a forgotten America, but a new report suggests in one important area that program will soon prove more relevant than ever.
Increasingly, members of the Millennial Generation, as they reach their mid to late-thirties, are going to be moving into suburban locations, replicating the world once celebrated by Ozzie, Harriet, David and Ricky Nelson.
So predicts the Urban Land Institute’s just-released Emerging Trends in Real Estate report, which says the Millennial move will drastically impact suburban development and construction patterns.
“No one will argue that urban revitalization received a tremendous boost from the influx of Millennials into urban cores around the United States,” says the report.
But as the Millennials grow older, they are expected to follow the patterns of earlier generations, perhaps most particularly the World War II generation in the 1950s, as they head for the suburbs.
This means that up to 80 million people in the coming decade will be transforming the suburbs into thriving destinations very much resembling the urban cores they are leaving.
“The traditional attractions of the suburbs—larger homes, good schools, and lots of green space—have not changed,” says the report.
But what is proving different this time around is a greater demand for access to mass transit, and walkable neighborhoods in “proximity to shopping and entertainment.”
The new suburban trend will also mean more single-family and multi-family construction in those areas, as well as commercial space.
“Retail follows rooftops, so retail development to meet the new residents’ requirements will follow,” the report continues.
The new retail development will see less of an emphasis on shopping malls and big-box stores as individual retailers and chains reduce their footprints while also trying to balance a brick and mortar presence with an online presence.
The report additionally identifies the challenge of both suburban and urban areas trying to find more affordable housing for residents, noting a need for up to 4.5 million such rental units in the next decade, which works out to around 325,000 new units every year.

By Garry Boulard

A building first opened for use in the fall of 1929 on the Socorro campus of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology will soon be subject to significant renovations.

The three-story Brown Hall, located at 802 Leroy Place, will see a total overhaul of its cooling, mechanical, and electrical systems, all to be paid for out of the General Obligation Bond D passed this month by New Mexico voters.

That bond is allotting $7.1 million for the work at the 24,000 square foot hall, which currently serves as the home to offices for the president of the school, as well as New Mexico Tech’s university relations, academic affairs, and human resources departments.

The last time the building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, saw any renovation work was more than a decade ago, when the school’s budget office was renovated.

The new renovation effort will also include some office remodeling at the Brown Hall to allow for more space.

Bond D funding at New Mexico Tech is additionally expected to see the installation of high-efficiency LED outdoor lighting in some parts of the campus.

By Garry Boulard

A long-planned project to build a visitors center celebrating the legacy of historic Route 66 is another step closer to reality with an additional $750,000 in funding.

That money is coming out of the $38 million general obligation bond overwhelmingly approved this month by Bernalillo County voters.

A primary advocate for the Route 66 project is the Southwest Alliance of Neighbors in Albuquerque, which has been talking about the historic importance of the state road.

As planned, a Route 66 Visitors Center will go up on what is known as Nine Mile Hill, on the west side of Albuquerque, and will celebrate the existence of the interconnecting state roads that made Albuquerque more accessible to the rest of the world beginning in the late 1920s.

The project will see the construction of a museum, amphitheater, and taproom. An outdoor neon sign graveyard will remind visitors of the thousands of neon signs and billboards that made any journey on Route 66 such a unique visual experience.

It is currently expected that the final price tag for the project could be as much as $8.2 million, more than double the amount earlier projected.

So far, roughly $4.5 million in a combination of state, city, and county funds have been secured for the project.

If final funding is committed in subsequent months, it is thought that construction will begin next October.

By Garry Boulard