In a move designed to counteract local zoning laws that may be seen as too restrictive, Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown has introduced a bill making it easier for faith-based groups to build housing. The legislation, called the Yes, In God's Back Yard Act, aims at reducing what Brown is calling "barriers to housing." "Housing is too expensive and too hard to find in almost every community in America," said Brown, who is also the chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. The challenges are equally apparent for religious groups who want to build housing, even when it’s on land they already own: "By helping these institutions cut through red tape, we can lower the costs of housing and expand options in Ohio and around the country," Brown remarked. The acronym for Brown's legislation, YIGBY, is an obvious reference to the ongoing Not In My Back Yard movement, otherwise known as NIMBY, which has seen opposition to any number of new housing projects in communities across the country. If approved, the legislation would provide assistance to both faith-based groups as well as institutions of higher learning that want to use land they own for housing development. The bill would also make available to local governments assistance to "learn best practices and how they can facilitate the production of affordable rental housing" on privately owned land. An additional feature of the legislature calls for the establishment of challenge grants for communities, removing barriers to the building of affordable housing. Brown's proposal has received support from a diverse array of groups including the United Church of Christ, National Association of Evangelicals, the National Housing Law Project, and the National Low Income Housing Coalition, among others. The legislation is currently under review in the Banking Committee. It is not known when it will move to the full Senate. By Garry Boulard
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The next step in the construction of a hyperscale data center in northeast El Paso has been taken with the final purchase of the site where it will be built. The company Meta Platforms, Incorporated indicated late last year that it was buying just a little over 1,000 vacant acres off Stan Roberts Sr. Avenue to build what will be a five-phase campus. Based in Menlo Park, California, Meta Platforms was formerly called Facebook, and logged revenues last year of nearly $135 billion. Always on the search for new data center property, Meta put down $8.5 million to buy the City of El Paso-owned land, while announcing that it expected to spend upwards of $2.8 billion on facility expansion and upgrade work between now and the year 2050. Meta Platforms, which also operates the hugely popular Instagram and WhatsApp services, has not released a construction schedule for the new center and, according to a sales contract, may take up to five years to develop the property. With just under two dozen data centers across the globe, Meta Platforms in 2022 announced plans to build a new $800 million facility in Temple, Texas, some 600 miles to the east of El Paso. That Temple project was temporarily put on hold while the company recalibrated its design, a design geared to support Artificial Intelligence systems. Work re-started on the Temple facility around six months ago. The company also announced earlier this year that it is building a 700,000-square-foot facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana, along with a structure of similar dimensions in Rosemont, Indiana. As part of its agreement with the City of El Paso, Meta Platforms may be eligible for up to a total of $110 million over time in tax rebates. By Garry Boulard Members of the El Paso City Council may decide this week whether to approve a new site for the construction of a multi-purpose center. Approved by voters nearly 12 years ago as part of a sweeping $473 million Quality of Life bond, the project was derailed when city officials announced that the facility would be built in the historic downtown neighborhood of Duranguito. Legal challenges over a span of nearly eight years opposing that site and emphasizing the cultural importance of the largely Hispanic section of the city finally prompted the City of El Paso to announce it was actively looking for another place to build the structure. In February, the city council announced it was considering selecting a 13-acre site near the city's old Union Depot station, which is located at 700 W. San Francisco Avenue. A rendering presented to the city council has shown an oblong-shaped site for the arena, with both extensive retail and open space. The site is currently home to a bus maintenance facility requiring an environmental cleanup that would include soil excavation and the removal of underground storage tanks. That process, according to the publication El Paso Inc., could cost anywhere from $600,000 to $2.7 million: "The cost of the cleanup would be added to the project total." According to city documents, if the Union Depot site is selected, the project will embrace "multi-modal transit, and encourage mass transit as a main point of access for what is imagined to be a pedestrian-oriented development." By Garry Boulard In the wake of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, a growing number of Americans are expressing concerns about the stability of bridges both in their communities and across the country, according to a just-released survey. Polling more than 1,800 people, the survey site YouGov found that a sizable 37% defined the nature of bridges nationally as either bad or terrible, compared to only 17% who rated such structures as either good or great. The numbers were a little bit less alarming when respondents were asked to grade bridge infrastructure in their own communities, perhaps suggesting that a personal familiarity with certain structure tempered the answers. In this category, 25% rated their local bridges as either bad or terrible, while 36% regarded such structures as either good or great. According to a narrative attached to the YouGov survey, residents of suburban areas were the “least likely to see problems with their community’s infrastructure,” with only 20% characterizing local bridges as bad or terrible. A larger 27% of urban residents, however, thought their local bridges were in bad shape. Indicative of the more common truck and long-distance vehicle use in rural areas, some 43% of residents in those areas judged their bridge infrastructure as bad or terrible. The main spans of the Key Bridge in Baltimore swiftly broke and fell into the waters of the Patapsco River after being rammed by a Singapore-registered container ship on the afternoon of March 27. At least six workers, part of a pothole patching crew on the bridge, fell into the river as a result of the crash and died. While not a common occurrence, the last year has seen two significant bridge failures in the U.S.: the collapse of the northbound lanes of an Interstate 95 highway overpass in Philadelphia last June; and the collapse of a rail bridge crossing the Yellowstone River near Columbus, Montana, also in June. In a greatly publicized survey conducted by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2021 it was noted that some 42% out of a total of 617,000 bridges in the U.S. were at least 50 years old, with 7.5% classified as being structurally deficient. Perhaps not surprisingly, 47% of respondents to the YouGov survey said they were in favor of increasing federal spending for bridge and road projects, with 26% wanting to keep funding levels the same, and only 5% expressing opposition. By Garry Boulard In an ongoing quest to find a new home of operations, the Arizona Coyotes ice hockey team has announced plans to build a massive $1.7 billion arena and surrounding entertainment district in north Phoenix. The project will go up near the intersection of Rio Salado Parkway and Priest Drive and will include office space and a practice rink. The announcement comes nearly a year after voters in Tempe rejected three separate proposals calling for the construction of a combined Coyotes arena and entertainment district in that city. In a statement, Alex Merulo, Arizona Coyotes chairman, remarked that the team was committed to completing a project that “will incur the cost of more than $100 million in infrastructure improvements, with no burden placed on taxpayers.” The new arena will have a seating capacity of 17,000 and will additionally see the construction of a 3,500-seat theater, up to 400,000 square feet of retail space, and a 150,000-square-foot practice facility. Plans additionally call for the building of around 1,900 residential units, a dog park, and multiple parking structures. One uncertain aspect of the project, however, is the fact that the Coyotes do not currently own the 110 acres upon which they are planning to build their new home. The property currently belongs to the Arizona State Land Department and will be subject to an auction scheduled for June 29. A minimum bid of $68.5 million is being asked by the Land Department. Arizona Coyotes officials have expressed confidence that they will secure the land via the auction. In a statement, Xavier Gutierrez, Arizona Coyotes president, said he believes construction on the big project can launch by next spring, adding: “We hope to drop the puck in the fall of 2027.” Once completed, the arena and entertainment district will comprise the first fully privately funded sports facility of its kind in Arizona. By Garry Boulard The Intel Corporation, long a major player in the economic life of New Mexico, is set to upgrade two of its massive facilities in Sandoval County. The move comes as the Santa Clara, California company has reached an agreement resulting in some $8.5 billion in new funding out of Washington through the CHIPS and Science Act. According to a release issued by the New Mexico Economic Development Department, Intel "expects its investments in the United States to exceed $100 billion, as it expands capacity and capabilities in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon." It is additionally thought that the company's expansion efforts will bring a dividend of around 20,000 construction jobs and 10,000 permanent manufacturing jobs. More specifically for New Mexico, Intel plans to modernize two of its fabrications and semiconductor production facilities into advanced packaging facilities. The end result of the changeover will see the creation of the largest advanced packaging facility in the country. Founded in 1968, Intel completed its first $70 million plant in Rio Rancho in 1981. It has to date invested more than $16 billion in its New Mexico operations. By Garry Boulard The nation's construction industry saw a gain of 39,000 jobs last month, one of its strongest performance in recent months, according to just released figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The numbers were up in nearly all categories, with residential construction seeing an increase of 14,400 over the month before; and specialty trade and heavy and civil engineering posting a significant gain of 24,600 jobs compared with February. The nonresidential specialty trade sector saw an increase of 16,300 jobs; while residential building was up by 5,500 new jobs. In a statement, Anirban Basu, chief economist with the Associated Builders and Contractors, characterized the latest jobs report as a "blockbuster," adding that the new figures indicate that a recession "is not arriving anytime soon." Basu additionally noted that the 39,000 new jobs were "roughly twice the monthly growth observed over the past year." Ken Simonson, chief economist with the Associated General Contractors of America, remarked: "All types of construction firms were hiring in March." But the AGC analyst also observed that the record number of job openings posted in February "indicates contractors would have hired even more workers if they were available to keep pace with demand." Overall, the country experienced a gain of 303,000 new jobs in March across all industries, a figure that the New York Times characterized as evidence that "robust hiring and rising wages can continue to coexist while inflation eases." The largest gains were seen in the education and health sectors, with 88,000 new jobs; followed by government employment, seeing an increase of 71,000; and the always-growing leisure and hospitality sector with 49,000 additional jobs. A narrative from BLS noted: "Employment showed little or no change in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction." The transportation, warehousing, and financial activities sectors were also generally flat. In looking at the new job landscape, the Wall Street Journal noted that the figures were up from 270,000 jobs in February, and much higher than expectations of 200,000. By Garry Boulard A plan is moving forward to repurpose and revitalize one of the most historically visible structures in Colorado Springs. Located at 101 S. Union Boulevard, the Union Printers Home is a building representing the way things used to be, a long time ago. Opened in 1892, the structure housed a retirement and care facility for newspaper typography workers. Those workers very often suffered from a form of black lung disease from being exposed daily to the carbon-based ink that was then used in printing newspapers. Situated near downtown Colorado Springs, the building, on a roughly 300-acre campus, measures around 100,000 square feet, and is treasured by preservationists for its Richardsonian Romanesque design. The home was eventually opened to others who were not members of the International Typographical Union. Exactly ten years ago a private nursing home group purchased the facility and structure, before it was finally closed in 2020. Now an effort led by the Union Printers Home Partners and the design firm Sasaki, which has offices in Denver, has revealed plans calling for turning the Union Printers Home campus into a mixed-use site with retail and residential space, a hotel, food hall, and plaza with water features. The main structure, otherwise known as "The Castle," will be preserved and upgraded. It is thought that it could ultimately cost as much as $1 billion to upgrade, repurpose, and build on the extensive campus, with actual work beginning on the project in either late 2025 or early 2026. By Garry Boulard Additional state funding has been secured for a project seeing the building of a multi-million center designed to replant trees throughout New Mexico. Late last year it was announced that the New Mexico Reforestation Center will be established in the city of Mora, roughly 50 miles to the southeast of Taos. The project will operate at the site of the long-time John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center just to the south of New Mexico State Road 518 and will see the construction of a series of greenhouses designed to nurture more than 1.2 million seedlings. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed off on a $10 million capital outlay earlier approved by state lawmakers to fund some of the initial construction work at the site. With a long-range mission of studying and growing trees, the Reforestation Center also has a multi-phase building plan with construction taking place over a three-year period, ending in 2025. According to information provided by the Reforestation Center, the current seedling production capacity in New Mexico is at around 300,000 seedlings a year, a number regarded as far below what the state needs, especially given that in the last two decades wildfires have decimated up to 5.4 million acres and hundreds of thousands of trees. As planned, the Reforestation Center will produce up to 5 million seedlings annually for planting in burned-out areas of the state. It is thought that it will ultimately cost as much as $99 million to complete the Reforestation Center, with around $43 million needed to for the final two phases of the project. The Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service earlier announced that it was committing $10 million to the project. It has been noted that the forests of the state supply anywhere from 50% to 70% of all water used by municipalities and farms in New Mexico. In a statement issued late last year, Rachael Foe, reforestation coordinator for the state’s Forestry Division, remarked: “What reforestation really means is that in two or three decades our children will reap the benefits of decisions we made today.” Continued Foe: “We are purposefully investing not just in the forests themselves, but in the water sources and wildlife habitat they provide.” By Garry Boulard One of the largest big-box retail stores in the world is in the throes of a plan that will see it building at least two dozen new locations in the U.S. before the end of this year. Based in Seattle, the Costco Wholesale Corporation is a membership-only operation with nearly 900 locations domestically, as well as in Europe and Asia, among other destinations. The company, seeing more than $242 billion in revenue last year, has been steadily expanding its footprint in the last decade or so, adding at least 300 new locations since 2011. Now Costco is planning to build new warehouse stores in a variety of domestic locations, with the most recent spots in Loomis, California; North Port, Florida; Mount Juliet, Tennessee; Riverbank, California; and Richmond, Texas showing a decided Sunbelt emphasis. The company, in fact, has long been heavily invested in the West, with 137 locations in California, 20 in Arizona, and 16 in Colorado. Texas represents Costco’s second largest market with 38 stores. Costco outlets typically range in size from 80,000 square feet to 231,000 square feet. A plan to build what the company billed as its largest store in history at 241,000 square feet in Fresno, California, has recently been reduced to 219,000 square feet. Even so, the Fresno store will include 32 gas pumps as well as a 48,000-square-foot drive-through car wash. The number of new Costco stores expected to be built and open for business by the end of this year marginally surpasses the 23 it completed in 2023. Last month in a quarterly earnings call with analysts, Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti remarked that location growth is expected to be steady for the foreseeable future. “I’m confident we’re going to open 25-plus for the next couple of years,” he said, “then go up to 28 and up from there.” According to reports, the company is also in the planning process for new warehouse stores in Buckeye, Arizona, and Littleton, Colorado. By Garry Boulard |
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