That's so cool! I didn't realize this. I haven't lived in Phx since over 7 years ago, and haven't been in the last 5 years...definitely need to visit :D

Phoenix Real Estate News
 

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate...ousing-markets

Construction ready to roll on $187M health sciences building

Phoenix Business Journal - by Angela Gonzales

The Arizona Board of Regents now can begin construction on a $187 million research and education building on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus, which will create 2,000 construction jobs.

The Joint Committee on Capital Review met to review the project on March 23, the only step holding up construction. The 268,000-square-foot Health Sciences Education Building, part of the planned expansion of The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix in partnership with Arizona State University, is supported by future Arizona Lottery revenue through a financing plan that begins in 2016. The universities will issue bonds immediately and make interest-only payments on them for five years to get the project underway.

Dr. Stuart Flynn, dean of the medical school’s Phoenix campus, said he is ecstatic.

“If I could do a cartwheel, I would do one,” he said. “Now we know we’re over a huge hurdle and it’s just going to be very difficult to slow this momentum down at this point. It’s been a long journey and tomorrow we go to work on keeping the campus moving forward with a new building now in sight.”

Now that the JCCR has reviewed the project and as bond proceeds become available, construction on the building could begin as early as April, creating 2,000 construction jobs.

Overall expansion plans for the Phoenix Biomedical Campus is expected to generate $2.1 billion in economic impact each year.

The Arizona Board of Regents endorsed the expansion plan in December, allowing the medical school to expand its class size to at least 110 students per year from its existing 48 medical students in Phoenix. Also in that building will be students from the ASU College of Nursing and Health Innovation as well as other health-related programs from Northern Arizona University.

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The 2.1 billion in economic impact per year seems really high, but hey what I know...

how bout the picture they used for that article? Hello 1990's

At least it's not a bad shot.

Haha true, look at the old B of A tower...has the old logo and everything.

Not a construction development but for all of you iPhone users out there, there is a new free AZCentral app out. Its not bad.

oh great - more douchiness on AZCentral.

Thats what I thought too, but you can't post on the iphone app. :tup:

Well, fuckin' a. If I can get one under $500,000 I may jump.




Phoenix's cluster of brick minimansions called Chateaux on Central has a new owner. Wisconsin-based MSI West Investments paid $7 million for the 21 homes with elevators and rooftop terraces.

The high-profile project was started during the housing boom. Then, plans called for the homes, some with turrets and wine cellars, to each sell for $2.8 million and higher. The current deal breaks down to less than $350,000 a home.


Chateaux on Central, at Central Avenue and Palm Lane, has been tied up in Mortgages Ltd.'s financial problems for the past few years. When the original lender, Desert Hills Bank, filed to foreclose in 2007, Mortgages Ltd. took over with a $65 million financing deal. Then, Mortgages Ltd. was forced into bankruptcy by its creditors and investors in June 2008, and Chateaux on Central had been stalled ever since.

Chateaux's new owner intends to unveil its plans for the development soon. Central Phoenix neighbors of the project, including many office tenants on Central Avenue, will be happy to see the homes completed.

"We are very aware that the eyes of the community have been focused on this project for quite some time and that, with the acquisition, comes a tremendous responsibility to provide a top-quality development," said Bill Schmitz, president of MSI West Investments, which paid cash for Chateaux on Central.

MSI West Investments is a division of the food-industry firm Main Street Ingredients of La Crosse, Wis. Joe Morales of Arizona Realty ONE Group has been hired by MSI West to market and sell the homes.

Chateaux on Central is so high profile that it was featured in last year's New York Time's list of "Ruins of the Second Gilded Age."


Mortgage-fraud summit

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will be in Phoenix on Thursday for a mortgage-fraud summit. The event is part of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force formed by President Barack Obama last year.

The Phoenix event will be the second summit for the task force. The first was held in Miami in February.

Mortgage fraud began to plague Phoenix's housing market during the boom, when illegal cash-back deals were happening in almost every neighborhood. Now, most fraud schemes in the Valley involve foreclosures.

A diverse group of Arizona market watchers, fraud experts, state and federal regulators and prosecutors as well as real-estate leaders have been invited to Phoenix's mortgage-fraud event.

Reach the reporter at catherine.reagor@arizonarepublic.com.

Looks like one can buy a place at summit for under 150k. I just saw a place at the Embassy for 75k.

I wouldn't mind Summit if it weren't for the train and the baseball stadium. Embassy is too far from the train. Ideally I would be at Regency House.

Mixed economic signals:

http://www.azcentral.com/business/ar...-february.html

Arizona's employers created almost 20,000 positions from January to February, which gives economists hope that the state's job market is expanding.

Another figure might seem to reflect the reverse: Arizona's jobless rate rose to 9.5 percent in February from 9.2 percent in January, according to the Commerce Department....

--don

Not that mixed.

The article says that what is most likely happening is that people who had given up looking for a job (and therefore not counted as part of the unemployment numbers) are starting to look again (which is actually a good sign) and therefore raising the unemployment percentage figures.

^ Either that or there's still enough people moving to Phoenix (consistent with the latest census estimates) to aggravate our unemployment situation.

I'd love to know how they can accurately track this information (people "starting to look again"), which sounds like horse manure to me.

--don

I was just in Walgreen's and saw this book, published just last month:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...fL._SS500_.jpg

The synopsis on Amazon says:
"Lord Darrell Duppa, along with his friend Jack Swilling, suggested the name 'Phoenix' for the city he had cofounded because it described a city born from the ruins of a former civilization. Settled on the ancestral lands of the Hohokam Indians, Phoenix was thriving by the early 1920s when craftsmanship and attention to detail were the orders of the day. Buildings were designed to welcome residents and travelers alike. Today the Fox Theater, the Clark Churchill House, the Kon Tiki Hotel, and the Fleming Building exist only in photographs and in the memories of Phoenix residents. The National Register of Historic Places and the Phoenix Historic Property Register have heightened public awareness and appreciation for the community's historic landmarks, but much has been lost already. Remembering these buildings and landmarks is essential to understanding this remarkable city."

It looks interesting, but I lost my job and shouldn't buy non-essentials right now :(

Too bad it's not in hard cover, would have been a nice addition to Phoenix: Then and Now and Arizona: Then and Now that I have in hard covers on the coffee table.

Couple downtown night shots....

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...a/DSC_3398.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...a/DSC_3397.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...a/DSC_3391.jpg

Word from a reliable source puts the Pita Jungle on 3rd Avenue and Roosevelt opening by mid June. Evidently, they always try to open stores on time but it never works out. But it is still going to happen.

It's actually pretty easy if you keep track of those who are collecting unemployment. I'll bet a huge number have started looking again as their unemployment expires.