This is our first attempt at “This week in Phoenix.” We will have a new column each Friday that sums up some important and some just interesting things going on in Phoenix. Some will be real estate related, but some weeks could very well have no real estate-related content. Remember, this is a first attempt, it will only get better! If you want to never miss an episode, make sure you sign up for our “This week in Phoenix” email list.
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This was about SB170, not Trump
The big news from Phoenix this week was the City Council’s decision to not become a sanctuary city. Recently several major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other have decided for becoming sanctuary cities for undocumented immigrants. President Trump has threatened cities who approve sanctuary city status by saying he would move to withhold federal funds from them. During the debate by the Mayor and Council, that threat by the Trump administration was not the focus. The focus was SB1070 which made becoming a sanctuary city illegal under state statute and would have cost the city $5,000 a day. Those who came to speak for the measure were not happy when it was voted down by a 7-2 margin. If you want to watch the 80 minutes of discussion, you can do so here.
If you build it, they will come… They hope.
Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Phoenix. What do they all have in common? Over the last several years they have all made large inroads into redeveloping their downtown areas and making them much more friendly for local residents. If you went into downtown Chandler in 2009 and then came back today, you would hardly recognize it. Gone are the empty storefronts and adult shops and in their place are new restaurants and local businesses. While things have changed, they are about to change even more.
There is a new $25m development scheduled to go up in downtown Chandler this year which will have over 77,000 sqft under roof. The anchor for the complex will be the new Flix Brewhouse, which is a movie theater with a microbrewery. The complex will be on the empty lot on the southwest corner of Arizona and Chandler.
I am interested is what the new parking situation will be, as I am not sure the lot is large enough to house 77,000 sqft and parking. There is also discussion of a new development on the southeast corner, but those talks have been off and on for two years now. We recently wrote about why we were bullish on the housing market in the southeast valley, and this story just adds more proof to that.
$25M downtown Chandler retail destination to open in December
Will skating on the east side mean more money for the Yotes?
There has been a lot of interesting news lately on sports stadiums. The Dbacks are trying to get out of their lease with Maricopa County at Chase Field, and now there is serious talk of getting the Coyotes from Glendale over to the east side, where many people think they should have originally settled. A bill in the AZ Senate made it out of committee this week that would be a joint effort by the team, the host city, and bonds. Right now the likely target of a new stadium would be Tempe or Scottsdale, but other locations have not been ruled out. We wrote about the Coyotes coming to Tempe in partnership with ASU. But that project is now dead, but Tempe is still a likely location.
Side hustle
So you live in Phoenix, and maybe you have an extra room or a guest house you are wondering if anyone makes any money by renting out their place through Airbnb. According to the company, Arizona citizens made $50.9 million from income from 329,000 visitors in 2016. The number of visitors was up 152% over the year before, much of that is attributed to the state passing SB1350, which prohibits Arizona localities from banning short-term rentals like Airbnb. So what are you waiting for?
New builds continue to grow
As we mentioned, people continue to move to the Phoenix area. More people means more housing requirements. More than 18,000 new homes were built in 2016, and that number will continue to grow. The good news is we are not seeing the signs that lead to the disaster of 2004-2006 time frame when the people buying new houses were not people who qualified for a home, which lead to the bubble. But just taking a drive around the valley, you will likey see new build developments. And while there may be a few small infill developments going up, much of the growth is on the fringes of the city.
After the rain passes this weekend
The team at the Phoenix Real Estate Guy love our outdoors. So here is a fun one for you. This weekend is supposed to rain like crazy, but that means we could have some colorful areas on President’s Day or next weekend. Here are the 10 Best Desert Wildflower Hikes in the Phoenix metro area according to Phoenix New Times.
There you have it, our first effort in summing up some of the important and interesting news from Phoenix in the past week. We aim to do this every Friday on the Phoenix Real Estate Guy website. The easiest way to make sure you never miss an issue is to sign up to receive it in your inbox every Friday.
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