A two-building project that will see the construction of just over 530 luxury apartments in Scottsdale has cleared a big hurdle.

Members of the Scottsdale City Council have given their approval to what is being called Hazel & Azure, a project that will go up at 4605 N. Scottsdale Road and will include in excess of 14,000 square feet ground floor retail space.

That approval follows on a thumbs up from the city’s Development Review Board in August.

The project belongs to ZOM Living, which is headquartered in Orlando, Florida, and has undertaken similarly large residential projects in the Sunshine State, as well as both North and South Carolina, and Texas.

The Hazel building part of the project will house just over 362 units to the northside of the site, with at least 13,000 square feet of commercial space. The Azure building will encompass 170 residential units and just under 1,000 feet of commercial space.

The Azure building will also feature a rooftop swimming pool.
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If all goes as planned, work on the Hazel & Azure project should be underway by next spring.

​By Garry Boulard

A new realtors survey indicates that despite reports of an upcoming recession in, perhaps, early 2023, some 68% believe that that recession most likely started this summer.

The survey, conducted by the San Francisco-based Morrison Foerster law firm, also shows that an overwhelming nearly 76% of respondents thought that the national housing market has peaked and is now in a downward phase.

In individual responses to the survey questions, respondents said they thought the upper end of the residential market has most likely either leveled off or declined, although prices are continuing to increase.

At the same time, and showing the dynamic differences between the selling and renting markets, just over 69% of respondents disagreed with the question: “Do you think that the rental housing market in the U.S. has peaked and begun a downward phase?”

In fact, just under 81% of respondents said they thought the multi-family apartment sector is still in an expansionary phase.

Respondents were similarly bullish when asked if they thought the nation’s retail cycle has made a comeback from its pandemic doldrums, with 59% saying yes. Similarly, 74% said they thought the hospitality sector had “emerged from the bottom of the cycle.”
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In the area of commercial real estate, around 80% of respondents thought the market today is significantly worse than where it was a year ago; with 70% believing that things are only going to get worse in the next 12 months.

​By Garry Boulard

A program that offers life-enhancing programs for adults may soon be upgrading and repurposing a retreat center that formerly belonged to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

In early 2021, the Modern Elder Academy purchased for around $8 million land at the Saddlebag Ranch in Galisteo, with the goal of building both meeting and residential space for its students.

The Saddlebag Ranch location is set to also serve as the group’s new headquarters.

But now Modern Elder’s plans additionally call for the building of new dormitory space at the former Immaculate Heart of Mary Retreat and Conference Center, located at 50 Mount Carmel Road.

That center, formerly a part of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, was auctioned off in the spring of 2021 as part of the archdiocese’s bankruptcy proceedings.

Modern Elder has announced plans to apply for a special use permit from the City of Santa Fe to build a 9,500 square foot structure at the Mount Carmel Road site. The group additionally wants to renovate some of the existing buildings at the site, while building new sidewalks on Camino de Cruz Blanca, which runs along the west side of the site.

The Modern Elder Academy has already held one public input meeting regarding its plans for the former archdiocese property. Those plans will eventually be examined by the City of Santa Fe’s Historic Districts Review Board.
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Opening its first campus in 2018 in Baja California Sur, the Modern Elder Academy bills itself as the “world’s first midlife wisdom school,” described by Forbes magazine as a “boutique resort for midlife learning and reflection.”

By Garry Boulard

In a move to address what is thought to be a roughly 5,600-unit shortfall of affordable housing, the City of Las Cruces has placed on this fall’s ballot a question asking for $6 million to fund new housing projects.

The ballot question will appear as a general obligation bond proposal and is one of four such bonds confronting Las Cruces voters in the November election.

If approved, the $6 million will be used to leverage significantly larger funding coming out of both Santa Fe and Washington for new housing construction.

The bond language more specifically says that the $6 million will be implemented to “provide resources to plan, design, construct, acquire, and preserve affordable housing” for residents classified as living in low to moderate income households.

The bond funding will, as part of the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, also be used to acquire needed land.

In an interview with the Las Cruces Bulletin, Natalie Green, housing and neighborhood services manager with the City of Las Cruces, asserted that construction of such new housing could be characterized as a “catalyst for economic development.”

Green added that the new housing construction will most likely occur at sites throughout the city.
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City officials have also said that they would like to see at least 300 new affordable housing units built and completed within the next three years.

​By Garry Boulard

Gains made by women in the college-educated labor force just before and during the Covid 19 pandemic are remaining in place, according to a new survey just released by the Pew Research Center.

As of the late spring of this year, women accounted for exactly 50.7% of the workforce with a college degree, a number that has been on the upside now for the last two years.

Altogether, there are currently 31.3 million women, aged 25 and older, with at least a bachelor’s degree, up from 28 million in the spring of 2018.

According to a release accompanying the Pew survey, the number of college-educated men, on the other hand, is now at 30.5 million, but their ranks “have not increased as quickly as those of women.”

Even so, the actual number of college-educated men has gone up from 28.7 million in the last four years to 30.5 million.

While the numbers for college-educated women clearly indicate progress, those with only some college, or none at all, have seen a decline of 4.6% in the last three years, while men in this category were down by 1.3%.
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The trend line of women receiving at least a bachelor’s degree has a long arc: according to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 1960 women made up 35% in this category. The number jumped to 43% by 1970 and has been above the 50% mark since 1981.

By Garry Boulard

A multi-story office building in the growing city of Centennial, Colorado, some 15 miles to the southeast of Denver, has been put on the market for $6.2 million.

Built in 1982, the property at 9137 E. Mineral Circle, in a section of the city dotted with modern office buildings on sprawling manicured sites, is classified as a Class B space.

Comprising just over 31,330 square feet, the structure known as Panorama Place sits on a just under 60,000 square foot tree-lined site and includes a spacious atrium.

The structure houses the offices of the ERA New Age Real Estate Company and has also been the home to the Layendecker & Lemire law firm.

Listed by the Denver-based Unique Properties realtors, the building additionally includes ground floor parking space.
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Office properties in Centennial, reflecting the city’s vibrant technical and professional services sectors, have been going for anywhere from $19 to $29 per square foot, with Class A office space making up the largest segment of the market.

By Garry Boulard

After nearly 6 years of litigation and controversy, the City of El Paso may be moving to a new stage in its effort to build a multi-purpose arena.

In the fall of 2016, members of the El Paso City Council voted to approve the $180 million construction of what is officially called the Multi-Purpose Performing Arts and Entertainment District in a section of the city inhabited by the historic Duranguito neighborhood.

Opposition to that plan from preservationists and community activists have seen the details of the project fought out in any number of local, regional and state courtrooms.

Now, with some sources indicating that it could well cost upwards of $240 million or more to build the same facility, a new study is underway designed to review other potential sites for the arena.
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The study is being conducted by the San Francisco-based M. Arthur M. Gensler & Associates, which is exploring not just other locations for the arena, but how large the facility should be.
That study is expected to be completed sometime early next year.

By Garry Boulard

The federal Department of Agriculture is efficiently helping to facilitate the purchase of new housing in rural areas but could do better by implementing a “preferred lenders” program.

So says David Battany, an industry lender speaking on behalf of the Mortgage Bankers Association in testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.

Battany contends that by delegating approval authority to preferred lenders, the Agriculture Department - but more specifically the department’s Rural Housing Service - could better facilitate funding for home building.

The ongoing lack of a preferred lending policy, said Battany, is a “major barrier to more robust lender participation and puts the Rural Housing Service out of alignment with the processes available in FHA and VA lending.”

“The existing processes require a conditional commitment from USDA staff, and while such commitments are rarely denied, there are instances in which delays in receiving such commitments can cause problems for borrowers and lenders,” remarked Battany, who is also the vice president of capital markets for the San Diego-based Guild Mortgage Company.

Continued Battany: “Market participants have noted that, in some cases, these delays can extend as long as ten days. In such cases, borrowers often have missed their closing dates, causing significant problems with their transactions.”

Despite his preferred lenders proposal, Battany lauded the Rural Housing Service for recent efforts to “better serve consumers and industry participants alike.”

Noting that the nation’s current rural market is “constrained by its very nature with limited housing supply, much of which is aging single-family houses,” Battany also observed that “rural communities face a well-documented shortage of suitable housing stock and underproduction of homes that meet the needs of the rural workforce.”
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Battany additionally suggested that “borrowers in rural areas would be well-served by greater access to remote online notarization. As the federal investment in broadband access reaches rural communities, they will be able to use a remote online notary in the loan closing process.”
Currently, remote online notarization is available in only 41 states.

​By Garry Boulard

Members of the Tucson City Council are expected to soon be tasked with voting up or down on a project that has divided many residents: the building of a housing project that could see the construction of nearly three dozen new homes.

The project is proposed for the intersection of N. Houghton Road and E. Tanque Verde Road in the exclusive Tanque Verde section of the city, some 16 miles to the northeast of downtown Tucson.

To go up on currently vacant desert land in the vicinity of already-established suburban neighborhoods, the project will be different from most of the homes in the area in that it will see the construction of one- and two-story single-family structures rather than the more classic Arizona sprawling suburban ranch home.

The project has sparked the opposition of the local Tanque Verde Trails Homeowners Association, but this summer also secured the support of City of Tucson staff, according to a report.

That report noted that the project, on a just under 12-acre site, would see the building of one home per 2.9 acres.

The project is being represented by the Tucson-based Projects, International, on behalf of the owner, New Era LLC.
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Long in the talking and public meeting stage, the project was originally envisioned as being made up of 86 townhomes, an idea that, notes the city report, “met with substantial public opposition.”

​By Garry Boulard

A one-story historic structure built in1929 and serving as the clubhouse for the Las Cruces Golf Course may soon be demolished.

The building, located at 2700 N. Main Street and designed by legendary architect Henry Trost, was closed just over a decade ago when the course itself closed.  Built at a reported cost of $18,000, the clubhouse for decades hosted any number of private parties and civic meetings.

A proposed demolition of the structure is part of a long-simmering project to redevelop the larger site.

But now members of the community, along with the Dona Ana Arts Council and the Dona Ana County Historical Society, are launching an effort to save the structure.

While acknowledging that the building has not been officially recognized by the National Historic Register as a historic structure, Troy Ainsworth, the City of Las Cruces’ historic preservation specialist, said the clubhouse was nevertheless not without value.  

In a public meeting on the matter, according to the Las Cruces Sun News, Ainsworth noted that the structure could be classified as a cultural property under the city’s Historic Preservation Ordinance, remarking: “This building means something to the people.”

The partial owner of the site, NAI 1st Valley, also of Las Cruces, has expressed an interest in preserving the building if a proposal can be devised that will fit in with the overall mixed-use plans for the property.

An additional owner is the Tetrad Property Group of Omaha, Nebraska.

Earlier this year members of the Las Cruces City Council gave their approval to a rezoning of the site, allowing for the construction of the mixed-use project.

The rezoning was in keeping with what is known as the Apodaca Blueprint, a document that lays out a long-range plan for the 730-acre site, allowing for the eventual construction of both residential and commercial space.

By Garry Boulard