06/16/07
Filed under:
General,
Real Estate
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 6:57 pm
An award-winning multimillion-dollar bottling facility near Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is at the center of a contentious lawsuit pitting a high-profile real estate investment firm against the property’s lender. The 500,000-square-foot Le-Nature’s bottling plant is facing foreclosure in a high-stakes court battle that began last month. A little more than a year after becoming the largest industrial building sale of 2006, the Le-Nature’s site could be the largest foreclosure in Arizona history, though investors hope to avoid that outcome, said Paul Chapman, managing director of CB Richard Ellis Investors, which created and manages the investment group that owns the property. More…
Filed under:
General,
Real Estate
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 6:48 pm
Desert Ridge residents are upset that a developer, which they say has circumvented the rules, appears to be getting its way on land at the heart of the master-planned community. At issue is property at the northeastern corner of Tatum Boulevard and Deer Valley Drive, directly north of Desert Ridge Marketplace. Gray Development, which paid $32 million for the 41-acre parcel in 2004, asked for and received four zoning variances on the property. Northeast Phoenix Partners, the master planner for the area that is controlled by Thomas J. Klutznick Co., and the Desert Ridge Community Association, also controlled by Klutznick, filed suit. More…
Filed under:
General,
Mortgages
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 6:45 pm
Until a few months ago, most Americans probably didn’t know what a subprime mortgage was. But when the mortgage market for borrowers with poor credit imploded earlier this year in a wave of foreclosures and lender bankruptcies, the failure sent shock waves through the entire mortgage industry. Now that the dust is settling, it’s clear that the vast majority of homebuyers still can get a mortgage the old-fashioned way: by verifying their income and putting money down. But there have been some changes in the mortgage business in the wake of the subprime problem. More…
Filed under:
General,
Real Estate
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 6:39 pm
Living in Buckeye caused Tim Grandy to adapt to isolation. The town Grandy has known always has been small. If he wanted to shop at Target, it would mean driving 30 miles or more to Phoenix. Before the Fry’s Marketplace was built in town grocery shopping meant another long trek east. Now, Grandy, whose family roots in Buckeye date to 1917, lives just a mile from the town’s first commercial center, Sundance Towne Center. More…
Filed under:
General,
Business
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 6:36 pm
The Radisson Fort McDowell Resort and Conference Center is raising the bar for upscale resorts and casinos among Arizona’s tribal communities. Much of the operation’s success is attributed to the tribe’s pioneering push in the 1990s for federal approval of gaming compacts, which eventually benefited Indian communities nationwide. The upscale resort, which opened in 2005, recently took home several coveted awards at the Carlson Hotels Worldwide Business Conference. The 250-room resort won the White Glove, Radisson’s President and Guest’s Choice awards. It also recently was awarded AAA’s four-diamond award for the second year in a row. More…
Filed under:
General,
Mortgages
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 6:34 pm
NEW YORK - Wall Street investment banks Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. on Thursday said fiscal second-quarter profit was squeezed by the nation’s mounting home-loan defaults. Both investment banks, among the world’s largest underwriters of bonds that back mortgage loans, said the shakeout in the subprime sector continued to erode performance. The industry has suffered this year as delinquencies on U.S. loans to homebuyers with poor credit have climbed to an all-time high in the first three months of the year. More…
Filed under:
General,
Mortgages
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 6:17 pm
The number of Arizona homeowners behind on their mortgage payments fell during the first quarter, a sign the housing market may be on the rebound. Mortgage delinquencies across the state dropped to 3 percent at the end of March from 3.51 percent at the end of 2006, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. Nationally, the delinquency rate fell only to 4.84 percent, from 4.95 percent. More…
Filed under:
General,
Business
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 6:15 pm
A new stretch of the Red Mountain Freeway portion of Loop 202 is expected to open next month, after construction crews finish laying rubberized asphalt from University Drive to Baseline Road in Mesa. Bridge work associated with the project will last through September. The three-mile stretch is part of two separate freeway projects: the Red Mountain Freeway that cuts through north Mesa and the “SuperRedTan” interchange linking Loop 202 with the U.S. 60/Superstition Freeway. More…
Filed under:
General,
Real Estate
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 5:59 pm
The Jet, a high-rise complex with 675 apartments, could land in downtown Phoenix soon. As planned, the $200 million project would include 36- and 23-story towers on Second Avenue between Fillmore and Van Buren streets. The 360-foot tower would be among the tallest buildings downtown. The Jet is one of two major apartment developments slated for downtown. The other is Alta Phoenix Lofts, a smaller complex with 332 apartments under construction near the southeastern corner of Fillmore and Third streets. Residents could move in as early as summer 2008. Both projects, close to light rail, are part of a regional apartment-building frenzy fueled by a glut of condo projects, rising rents and a demand for apartments, a real estate expert says. More…
Filed under:
General,
Real Estate
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 5:57 pm
Developers call it Glendale’s version of Phoenix’s Biltmore area and Desert Ridge developments, and this week, the project got unanimous support from the city’s Planning Commission. Main Street is proposed as a 166-acre project west of the Loop 101, stretching from Glendale Avenue to Bethany Home Road. Like Desert Ridge in north Phoenix, it is envisioned as a mix of retail, residential and restaurants. It would be bolstered by a resort and golf course that would snake from west Glendale’s stadium and arena area south to the spring training stadium the city hopes to open near Camelback Road in 2009. More…
Filed under:
General,
Real Estate
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 5:49 pm
Real estate investment firms from California and Colorado have bought the 24-story Great American Tower office building in Phoenix’s Central Corridor for $70.3 million. American Realty Advisors in Glendale, Calif., and 3200 North Central Venture LLC, an affiliate of Lakewood, Colo.-based Alliance Commercial Partners, purchased the 338,411-square-foot building from US Office Holdings Ltd. Partnership in Atlanta, according to Maricopa County records. More…
Filed under:
General,
Real Estate
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 5:47 pm
NORTH VALLEY - Phoenix has applied for $47.6 million in grant money that, if approved, would enable the city to purchase two key parcels of state trust land for the 21,000-acre Sonoran Preserve. The money is available through the Growing Smarter State Trust Land Acquisition Program, established as part of the Growing Smarter Act approved by voters in 1998. The money is intended to help urban areas protect land from the pressures of growth, said Doris Pulsipher, grant administrator for the Arizona State Parks Department, which operates the grant program. More…
Filed under:
General,
Mortgages
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 5:45 pm
To clamp down on the bad mortgage deals that inflate Valley home prices, state lawmakers gave their final approval Monday to a bill that would make mortgage fraud a felony. If Gov. Janet Napolitano signs the bill, Arizona would be one of the first states with a law specifically criminalizing residential mortgage fraud. The legislation targets cash-back deals in which a buyer receives a loan for more than a house is worth and keeps the extra cash. The deals can hurt lenders financially and inflate other house values. More…
Filed under:
General,
Business
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 5:36 pm
The seasonal summer slowdown and massive construction projects have put the squeeze on many downtown and central Phoenix businesses. The impact has been sweeping, touching everything from hotels to downtown lunch spots to mom-and-pop pet shops. Some have lost 60 percent of their revenues, and the convention center construction has cost hotels thousands of bookings over the past two years. More…
Filed under:
General,
Mortgages
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 5:34 pm
Only a low credit score stood between Alipio Estruch and a mortgage to buy a $449,000 Spanish-style house in Weston, Fla., a few miles west of Fort Lauderdale. Instead of spending several years repairing his credit rating, which he said was marred by two forgotten cellphone bills and identity theft, the 37-year-old real estate agent paid $1,800 to an Internet-based company to bump up his score almost overnight. More…
Filed under:
General,
Real Estate
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 5:22 pm
When Charles Sidi looks out his window, it’s what he doesn’t see that brought him to Arizona. He doesn’t see rain coming. Nor boring insects. Perhaps strange requirements for a luxury custom home builder, but after making a name for himself in the United Kingdom, Sidi said he decided to bring his goals and ambition to Arizona so his two young sons could play outdoors year-round and see “scorpions, coyotes and mountains.” More…
Filed under:
General,
Real Estate
Posted by:
Lillian Wong @ 5:21 pm
Heavy industrial space in the Valley is becoming increasingly scarce as communities continue to reduce the amount of such land in their general development plans. As a result, businesses that provide basic services that residents rely on - but often do not want to be located near - are finding it more difficult to expand. More…