Well, 2019 is here and we are on track for a heck of a year. Las Vegas is booming again and Phoenix is humming along just as expected.

 

News abounds as is clear with the results of this edition of the roundup.

 

Arizona’s attorney general is suing the state’s Board of Regents over large Arizona State University real estate projects, it was revealed last week.

 

Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed the lawsuit in Arizona Tax Court. Brnovich says the regents approved university plans to boost favored companies and help them avoid paying taxes. He cited ASU’s practice of allowing for-profit companies to build on university-owned land that is tax-exempt. Brnovich says wants the developers of an unbuilt Omni Hotel to pay property taxes.

 

The Arizona Tax Research Association, a conservative watchdog group, released a report in 2017 highlighting the issue. In the report, it claimed the Marina Heights development north of Sun Devil Stadium cost the state $12 million in annual property taxes.

 

ABOR Chair Ron Shoopman says in a Jan. 11 statement that Brnovich is litigating a policy stance against the board’s creative response to a state funding drop since 2007.

 

“Management of Arizona public universities’ real estate assets is the purview of the Arizona Board of Regents. With the Arizona Attorney General’s latest lawsuit against the board, the Attorney General is inappropriately inserting the courts into an issue of public policy,” Shoopman says.

 

Developers recently unveiled plans for the Circa Resort & Casino, described as an integrated gaming resort in downtown Las Vegas, slated to open in December 2020.

 

When completed, Circa will feature 777 rooms and suites, restaurants, a long outdoor bar on the Fremont Street Experience, a spa, and a two-level casino with state-of-the-art slot and table gaming options.

 

Steelman Partners will oversee architecture and design, while Tré Builders is the construction manager, and McCarthy Building Cos. is handling contracting duties.

 

Another feature — a nine-story, 1,201-space parking structure dubbed the “Garage Mahal” — is designed to meet ride-sharing demands.

 

A Feb. 12 ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for The Milwaukee Brewers’ spring training complex, Brewers Fields of Phoenix, formerly Maryvale Baseball Park.

 

Construction on Brewers Fields of Phoenix began last March. The new stand-alone, two-story building will house locker rooms, training spaces and support functions for the major- and minor-league teams, a flagship retail store, and a primary ticket office.

 

The complex also features an entry plaza, space for sports science and psychological services, an eight-lane batting tunnel, an agility field, pitching and catching mounds, a practice field matching Miller Park’s dimensions, a new scoreboard and concession stands.

 

Andersen Corp. recently held a groundbreaking for the company’s new manufacturing facility being built by Opus at the Goodyear Crossing Industrial Park in Goodyear, Ariz.  

 

As the lead project developer, designer and constructor, Opus expects the building shell to be finished in October.  Andersen officials said the facility, located on 26 acres, should be fully operational by the first quarter of 2020.

 

The 550,000-sq-ft building will include a two-line rail system, 21 truck bays on the building’s east side, four truck bays on the southeast corner, and a front entrance with two stories of glass windows.

 

A groundbreaking ceremony was held earlier this week for the Raiders practice facility and headquarters in Henderson, Nev.

 

When complete, the facility will feature three outdoor fields, indoor fields and more than 300,000 sq ft under roof. The practice facility will open in 2020; in the meantime, the Raiders will need another place to practice for the 2019 season.

 

Vantage Data Centers has acquired 50 acres of land outside of Phoenix to build a mega-scale data center campus.

 

Located in Goodyear, the Phoenix campus will be more than 1 million sq ft once complete. It will also be the largest of Vantage’s seven current and planned campuses, says the company. The site will house three data centers. Vantage officials say the data center space is driven by demand from hyperscale and cloud providers.

 

Construction will begin early this year; the first building will total 32 megawatt of critical load and is expected to be online in 2020.