AZRE Valley Partnership May/June 2014

2014

Valley of the Sun's Premier Advocacy Group for Responsible Development

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VALLEY PARTNERSHIP Abiding by the Principal

Chairman

& QA

O

ver the last 17 years, Doug Leventhal has been involved with all aspects of retail development, from acquisition to disposition, and is currently involved with overseeing and directing day-to-day operations and development of commercial projects nationwide. Leventhal has worked in more than 50 jurisdictions and nine states. He is also the designated broker for Evergreen Commercial Realty, which is the brokerage arm of Evergreen Devco.

At the encouragement of a former Valley Partnership Chair and Evergreen Managing Principal Gregg Alpert, who passed away in 2010, Doug Leventhal joined VP in 2001. He began his journey through leadership as co-chair of the City County Committee, chair of the Membership Committee, and was elected as an ex-officio board member in 2009. Leventhal was subsequently elected to the board of directors in 2010 and on the executive committee between 2011 and 2013. In addition to being the chairman of the 2014 board of directors for Valley Partnership.

Leventhal also serves on the Real Estate Council for Arizona State University’s Master of Real Estate Development program, is a Trustee of Valley Partnership political action committee and appears as a guest lecturer at ASU and International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

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What are Valley Partnership’s goals for 2014?

Valley Partnership’s goals for 2014 were created by our board of directors in our annual strategic planning session held in late 2013. We are primarily dedicated to representing our private sector and government partners, in the promotion and protection of the commercial real estate development industry. Because of the increase in activity in our market, we have the opportunity using our sold-out events and effective electronic communication to bring partners together to do business with each other. In addition, we are increasing our advocacy efforts at the federal, state and municipal levels to support positive legislation and confront and oppose any overly restrictive regulation that would hinder our Partners ability to develop real estate projects.

What are Valley Partnership’s biggest obstacles this year?

The biggest obstacle and challenge we face this year is the rapid movement of the market. As opposed to the last several years, projects are coming on line much faster and our partners have to be informed and react at a much quicker pace. Valley Partnership, through our committee structure, provides multiple forums for our Partners to be informed of the market opportunities and potential negative issues associated

DOUG LEVENTHAL Principal & COO, Evergreen Devco, Inc.

with development. For example, in our City County Committee, development professionals meet face to face with municipal officials to discuss best practices to bring projects from initial application to final inspection. Through our partnerships, issues are resolved before they become problems.

What were VP's biggest successes in 2013?

Valley Partnership is only as good as its future leaders. Last year, we set out to identify the up-and-coming leaders in our industry and created a forum for them to get together, learn from the more experienced developers and raise interest in our organization. The inaugural class of 2014 is in full swing.

We are excited about the future of that program. Also, our committee structures are as strong as they’ve ever been with clear goals and objectives. Membership is recovering strongly and we’ve seen an increased participation of partners at every level: Committee meetings are full, there is excellent board engagement and our signature Friday Morning Breakfast events continue to be sold out. Through it all, the retention rate of partner companies has been the best we’ve seen in recent years.

Read more online at azbigmedia.com/azre-magazine

VALLEY PARTNERSHIP

Marina Heights is a development partnership between Ryan Companies and Sunbelt Holdings.

Fellow Valley Partnership member Cushman & Wakefield was awarded the leasing assignment.

A Valley of Partners Partner-to-partner transactions

building up the Valley one project at a time 62 | May-June 2014

By Amanda Ventura

W

hen Valley Partnership was founded 27 years ago, it was on the principles of responsible development. It has since grown to thousands of members throughout the commercial real estate community — from subcontractors to some of the largest developers in Arizona.

“In 2014 and beyond, Valley Partnership developer companies are the leaders of almost every major commercial real estate project announced, including Marina Heights, the numerous announcements of deals at Eastmark, and Liberty Center at Rio Salado,” says Valley Partnership President and CEO Richard Hubbard.

The members have rallied behind the idea of partnership, Hubbard says.

“These developers use Valley Partnership partners for all construction disciplines related to the project including planning, design, architecture, general contracting, engineering and even law and accounting,” Hubbard says. “Many of those ‘partner-topartner’ transactions have come from longstanding relationships created through Valley Partnership. I would say that every level of partner in Valley Partnership, from board member to sole proprietor, is participating in the current commercial real estate building activity in the Valley.”

Some companies, such as Evergreen Devco, take the partner-to-partner very seriously.

Valley Partnership Chair of the Board Doug Leventhal is the principal and COO of Evergreen Devco. Though Evergreen has focused much of its recent work in Denver, the company finds exclusive value in partnership with fellow VP members for Arizona projects.

“I can say that for all our Arizona work, we tend to work exclusively with the companies that see the value in Valley Partnership and either are active members or active sponsors,” Leventhal says. “Our general contractors, for example, need to be members or sponsors almost as a prerequisite to getting our business.

Our architects, engineers, attorneys and title companies need to be members of Valley Partnership — or have a good reason why they are not! It’s important to Evergreen that we collectively support Valley Partnership since we all benefit from its mission to promote responsible development in the Valley. We are all connected in this unique way.”

That unique connection, as DMB Associates President Charley Freericks sees it involves Valley Partnership’s advocacy role for developers as well as a genuine

passion for making Arizona a great place to live.

“Valley Partnership understands that real estate isn’t the only driver of the economy,” says Freericks. “We are the beneficiaries of a strong and growing economy and it’s in our interest to make this a great place to live.”

Freericks, who has been a member for 10 years, served on the board of directors, was chairman in 2009, and has sat on multiple committees.

Most of DMB Associates’ partners at the developers’ 6,000-acre masterplanned community of Eastmark – and around the Valley - are Valley Partnership members, Freericks says.

“Over the years, we have worked with so many contractors, consultants and service providers who are members it would be hard to name them all,” he says. “In fact it might be difficult to find any that aren’t members.”

Valley Partnership has multiple avenues for paving those partnerships. There are 10 committees, including one for an annual golf tournament and a community building project. One of the most popular and frequent member events, is the Friday Morning Breakfasts — a monthly morning panel discussion about an industry trend featuring local experts.

Cubs Park (left) is a project Markham Contracting Co. worked on. Liberty Center at Rio Salado (below) is a partnership between Liberty Property Trust and Markham Contracting Co. Eastmark (bottom) includes a partnership between DMB Associates and Markham Contracting Co.

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VALLEY PARTNERSHIP Freericks reflected on a breakfast about the impact and trade partnership Arizona has with Canada as a particularly helpful one for his masterplanned communities of Eastmark and Victory at Verrado, which target Canadian homebuyers.

“Valley Partnership attracts important speakers and hosts debates of candidates for state and local offices which helps me make better informed decisions,” he says.

“The Valley Partnership advocacy team was a huge help to the Fighter Country Partnership efforts to bring the F-35 mission to Luke. This will impact our economy for generations to come. Valley Partnership’s role as the champion for moderate regulation has impacted all of

our properties over the years and will continue to do so.”

Heather Markham, vice president of Markham Contracting Co., says her company has been a member of Valley Partnership since 1992 and is also a Stewardship Sponsor. Markham has attended breakfasts for the last five years and is one of the students in Valley Partnership’s inaugural Young Advocates Program. As a co-chair of the Community Project Committee, Markham says she also appreciate’s Valley Partnership’s commitment to networking and giving back to the community.

“I believe this involvement in the community is critical personally as well as professionally for everyone,” she says.

Vistancia (left) is a partnership between Sunbelt Holdings, Markham Contracting Co. and Caretaker Landscape. Vee Quiva is another project Markham Contracting Co. worked on. (below)

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Markham has been self performing grading, paving and wet utilities civil infrastructure in the Southwest since 1977. Though Valley Partnership has only been around since 1987, Markham says the company has worked with many current Valley Partnership companies for nearly four decades. Partners include DMB Associates (Verrado and Eastmark), Macerich (Sonoran Crossing), Sunbelt Holdings (Vistancia), APS, Grayhawk Development, Lennar, Vintage Partners, MT Builders, HilgartWilson, Pulte, Atwell, Dibble Engineering, Wood Patel & Associates, Hoskin & Ryan, Siteworks, Speedie & Associates, Trench Shore Rentals, Alliance Bank of Arizona and Cemex.

“Valley Partnership plays a very strong role in responsible development of the commercial real estate community and provides an excellent venue for all the stakeholders in the process to come together and discuss issues and concerns as well as success stories,” she says. “This promotes strong partnerships between cities, counties, towns, state, land owners, developers, contractors, architects, engineers and every trade partner involved in making Arizona a great place to live and work.”

VALLEY PARTNERSHIP

Partner Profiles Chris Anaradian

Development Services Director, Town of Queen Creek

It’s Queen Creek’s time in the sun, boasts the town’s Development Services Director Chris Anaradian. Permit activity is “out of sight” and he cites his Valley Partnership involvement as a key ingredient while the town grows into its own.

“The situational awareness that Queen Creek gains from Valley Partnership is essential,” says Anaradian, who sits on Valley Partnership's Board of Directors.

“Knowing the current areas of focus and growth that our private partners are focused on helps us plan and build a better government and community for all. Having a voice when new legislation and alliances are being formed helps us better prepare to fund and administer the services our customers have come to expect and deserve.”

Anaradian is the former community development director and development services manager for the City of Tempe.

He managed the 220-acre Tempe Town Lake and 500-acre Rio Salado Project 66 | May-June 2014

during their initial five years. He also helped modernize multiple permitting and regulatory agencies and advocated for many developer-friendly shifts within the city, including those that precluded the Tempe light rail. Anaradian now has watched Queen Creek come through the economic recovery.

“It is now Queen Creek’s time in the sun, and so many opportunities lie ahead,” says Anaradian. “Our wash and trail system is poised to unite huge swaths of our community and become a defining geographic feature of life in Queen Creek.

Large tracts of undeveloped hillside residential property are into entitlement, some of the last and most majestic in the Southeast Valley.”

Tim Brislin

Vice President, Harvard Investments

Tim Brislin, an on-and-off member of Valley Partnership since 2004 who currently sits on the Board of Directors, has used organization’s networking opportunities

to broaden Harvard Investment’s exposure and partnership options.

Harvard Investments is a land investment and masterplanned community development firm.

“Harvard is laser focused on executing its vision and plans for its masterplanned communities in Mesa, Queen Creek/San Tan Valley, the West Valley and in Prescott,” Brislin says. “Our Mesa project, Cadence at Gateway, is very exciting and we are making great progress on our first residential phase, as well as getting traction on our retail and high density residential components much earlier than anticipated.”

In 2007, Brislin welcomed his first son and ended his “five-year job interview” with Harvard Investments.

“In both cases I was at the starting line staring at a wide open track. Today, in addition to my wonderful wife and two boys, and thanks to Harvard’s long standing market reputation, the faith of our partners and hard work, we built a high quality portfolio of assets that we will harvest for years to come.”

What many don’t know about Harvard is that its Canadian parent company, The Hill Companies, is a major commercial developer of office and retail, Brislin says. The company has expansion plans to include industrial, office and multifamily assets.

“Our current planning efforts are highly focused on demographic trends locally and nationally and how we plan our communities for the long-term based on who are buyers are, what products they want and what type of community they will embrace,” Brislin says. “There are shifts going on that affect all aspects of the real estate development business.”

Retired Lt. Col. Rusty Mitchell Director of Luke Air Force Base Community Initiatives Team

Kristina Locke

Marketing/Business Development Manager, Hoskin Ryan Consultants, Inc.

Looking for the latest news on the golf tournament? Kristina Locke sits on the committee for two-year member Hoskin Ryan Consultants, Inc. Locke comes to Valley Partnership with more than a decade of marketing, advertising and business development achievements for Hoskin Ryan and its clients.

Hoskin Ryan finished off 2013 with four new clients. Though they weren’t acquired through Valley Partnership, Locke is confident they will be this year.

“It does take a little while for people to get to know you and trust your firm,” she says. “We have formed great relationships and were educated on many different industry trends.”

Trends Locke is particularly interested in learning more about is the impact the Affordable Care Act will have on hospitals, physicians and companies such as Hoskin Ryan.

“More than anything, it would be great to be educated on how small-medium firms will be effected in the next several years,” she says. “I would love to see a panel of speakers who are watching these trends closely, such as executives of insurance companies, medical brokers, economist, hospital executives and/or physicians. Is the ACA ultimately heading to a single payer system? Will our taxes increase to support this act? Will ACA collapse based on the low volume of healthy individuals signing up? Or will it just be another system like Medicare for a certain population. Lastly, how will this affect the growth of Arizona?”

Jenifer Davis Lunt

Partner, Davis Enterprises

Davis Enterprises joined Valley Partnership last January — a big step for the closely held family business. Though Davis is one of the smaller development companies in the Valley and has a long history in the Valley, it has been a twoyear sponsor of the organization. Davis Enterprises is actively involved in the identification, acquisition, development and management of real estate properties in Arizona.

Jenifer Davis Lunt became managing partner following an award-addled tenure at CBRE, where she became the first female at the Phoenix office named “Rookie of the Year,” for selling more than 100 properties totally more than $675M in value and 2.5MSF. In 2005, Davis Lunt was named CBRE’s No. 1 Investment Broker. The following year, her father retired from Davis Enterprises and named her partner and principal of a business her grandfather started.

“We are most proud of contributions Davis has made to the revitalization of Central Phoenix including the SWC of 7th Ave & McDowell, 4700 N. Central and Melrose Marketplace,” Davis Lunt says.

The company is looking forward to the redevelopment of 21st Avenue and Deer Valley Road and 1015 S. Rural Rd., near ASU’s main campus.

Along those lines, Davis Lunt says a trend or issue she would like to see addressed by Valley Partnership is how the City of Phoenix can become more pedestrian, rail and bike dependent to allow for more retail and housing development in the urban core.

Rusty Mitchell, director of Luke Air Force Base Community Initiatives Team, has been an ex-officio board member at Valley Partnership since 2005 and is the primary liaison between the Air Force base, nine municipalities, Maricopa County and state officials. “(Valley Partnership) has enabled me to network with major developers and discuss development issues in areas that we conduct flight operations,” he says.

“This communication enables developers and landowners to be better informed of state statutes for compatible land use before they obligate time and money to a particular project.”

The partnership has been mutually beneficial. Before retiring, Mitchell served 22 years in the Air Force as a fighter pilot.

It is through his community involvement and history with the Air Force that Mitchell has managed to bring enduring economic development to the base and Arizona.

“The over-whelming community support of the mission of Luke AFB has been recognized by the senior leadership of the Air Force and was a significant contributing factor in its selection as the largest F-35 training base and the recipient of an eventual 144 F-35’s,” he says.

The selection of Luke to be the primary pilot training center for the nation’s most advanced fighter will ensure the existence of Luke AFB for many decades to come, Mitchell says.

“Not only is Luke critical in the nation’s defense, producing the world’s greatest fighter pilots, but the fact that it contributes approximately $2B to the state’s economy every year will continue to infuse the state with much needed economic power.”

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VALLEY PARTNERSHIP

It Takes Two:

Valley Principals Host Young Professionals in Inaugural Advocates Program

By Amanda Ventura

A

look around the room at a Valley Partnership Friday Morning Breakfast (FMB) reveals a who’s who of Arizona's commercial real estate industry. You’ll see seasoned professionals sitting next to up-andcomers, and though these are an effective networking tool, Valley Partnership took the concept to the next level.

It created the Valley Partnership Advocates Program for young professionals. The program is a ninemonth-long course for a “class” of 20 people under the age of 35 to meet with a new industry leader every month.

The inaugural program began last August and has included sessions hosted by prominent figures from DMB Associates, Inc., Vestar, Arizona State Land Department, Ryan Companies, Sunbelt Holdings, Evergreen Development, ASU and Macerich/WDP Partners. Many of the sessions were hosted by board members, including one held during a board meeting. “I did not understand the power of Valley Partnership and the people behind it until I attended that board meeting,” says advocate Nicole Mass, 35, Kitchell’s director of marketing.

The feeling is mutual. Bruce Pomeroy, founding principal at Evergreen Devco, has worked in the industry for 40 years.

During that time, he has trained many young hires and has taught classes for the International Council of Shopping Centers. Pomeroy says of the session he hosted at Centerpointe in Goodyear that "the ‘students’ were very engaged and asked good questions.”

“I believe the most important issue was that the advocates wanted to spend more time with the developers during each monthly event,” says Vice President and General Counsel to Maven Universal Brett Hopper, who helped design the program. “We want to provide the advocates a greater opportunity to interact with senior executives and

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The "Class of 2014" advocates visit DMB Associates' masterplanned community Eastmark. create long-lasting relationships.”

Stephanie Stephens, 27, marketing and project coordinator at Buesing, says the mentors emphasized the importance of getting involved in the real estate community. That typically starts with something as simple as the monthly Valley Partnership breakfasts, where Stephens heard about the program. Easton Mullen, 37, started his general contracting company Mullen Construction and Development in 2006 and has since built capital with the goal of becoming a developer. The advocates program, he says, created a foundation

Friday Morning Breakfasts, or FMBs, are Valley Partnership’s signature networking event. Held the last Friday of every month, except on holidays, FMBs feature a panel of industry experts discussing themed market and development trends and issues.

During the recession, the breakfasts fell just above 100 attendees. Last May, Valley Partnership saw a huge increase in attendance for “Land Rush: Market Update on the Valley’s Expansion,” featuring Nate Nathan and Vanessa Hickman. Ten of the 12 breakfasts since have been sold out.

Attendance is up by 50 percent.

Membership increased by 30 percent.

of contacts to use while his company evolves. “You can’t call these people up on the phone,” he says, “but if you’re part of the program, you can.”

The mentors encouraged community involvement and engagement within Valley Partnership’s committees and leadership roles. CBRE Sales Assistant Chris Marchildon, 28, was approached by board members at the suggestion of CBRE Executive Vice President Barry Gabel, about joining Valley Partnership’s Advocates Program.

“One of the first things I was told in this business was to ‘be a sponge,’” he says. “The second was to develop as many good relationships as you can along the way. Through the program, I was certainly provided the opportunity to learn success stories from the ground up as well as the chance to ‘soak up’ as much information as I could.”

Recent Denver transplant Kelly Kaminskas, 34, senior vice president at FirstBank, used the advocates program as an introduction to the industry. “It would have taken me years to piece together the information I received by being part of this group," she says.

Tuition is $150. Applications are available on Valley Partnership's website through July.

VALLEY PARTNERSHIP

Valley Partnership Amplifies Voice of Responsible Development

By Amanda Ventura

W

hen there’s a developmentrelated issue at stake, one of the first organizations that municipalities call is Valley Partnership.

Advocacy for responsible development is the driving force of the 27-year-old organization, which takes a stance on behalf of its busy members. The issues range from state legislation and statewide issues such as land reform efforts, Government Property Lease Excise Tax (GPLET), copper theft and economics of Luke Air Force Base. Leading into 2014, the organzation is in the midst of

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community district financing.

Many members have taken turns sitting on VP’s advocacy committees, with focus on city and county to federal influence, but no one has more ears to the ground than DMB Associate’s Karrin Taylor. Taylor is the immediate past chair of the board and has sat on multiple committees. “(VP’s advocacy) started out many years ago working at the local level and coming out of an era when anything related to development or developers wasn’t seen in best light,” says Taylor.

The most robust is the City County Committee, Taylor says, which is represented by a laundry list of the Valley’s municipalities. About four years ago, Valley Partnership got involved on a federal level with the Clean Water and Endangered Species acts. The committee has since turned into a roundtable for the congressional offices as well as a forum for educating members of the development community, Taylor observes.

“Through that legacy we’ve become the voice of the development community and local jurisdictions. Before they proceed

with ordinances, they call us,” she says.

“Valley Partnership really represents the entire industry. We’re seen as the one that has to look at things holistically.”

Valley Partnership’s working relationship with the cities is based on communication and trust, says the organization’s CEO and President Richard Hubbard.

“Using regular meetings between private sector developers and municipal staffers, we are able to discuss and resolve potential issues related to commercial real estate regulation prior to those issues becoming problems.

Through more than 27 years of this process and the resolutions of dozens of complicated issues related to oversight of commercial development, experience has led both developers and the cities to rely on each other’s expertise with the common goal of effectively building quality projects.”

As mentioned earlier, one of Valley Partnership’s slogans is that it advocates for developer issues so its members can focus on business. When an issue arises, Taylor says, Hubbard will give a “call to arms” so members are aware of an issue and committee members can work on an industry response.

“We rely on them to take the leadership role and managing issues as they arise,” Taylor says. “The relevance of the organization as a reasonable and educated voice of issues facing the development issue (is its greatest achievement).”

Taylor serves as President of the Foundation for Environmental and Economic Progress (FEEP), which represents major landowners and stakeholders across the country in the advancement of balanced federal environmental law and policy on endangered species acts and wetlands issues. Hubbard served as the Deputy Arizona State Land Commissioner and during his time generated more than $1B in sale and lease revenue for the trust’s beneficiaries, Arizona Public Education.

It was the most profitable period of the

“Using regular meetings between private sector developers and municipal staffers, we are able to discuss and resolve potential issues related to commercial real estate regulation prior to those issues becoming problems. department in its century-long existence.

In a similar vein, current Arizona State Land Commissioner Vanessa Hickman has been on the board of Valley Partnership for 2.5 years and prior to that was a member in the private sector.

Among the organization’s most significant advances at the legislature, says Hubbard, is the years-long work to preserve the GPLET. “Our developer partners have used the GPLET tool to develop some of the most important real estate projects in the Valley,” he says, adding, “We are also the biggest watchdog of preserving reasonable impact fees applicable to commercial real estate. Valley Partnership has also worked to support other economic development incentives designed to bring new employers to Arizona including the formation of the Arizona Commerce Authority.”

What comes to mind for Hickman was the Black Mountain Freeway expansion north. Valley Partnership backed the development due to transportations’ role in allowing for economic growth and clearing traffic congestion. On that issue, Valley Partnership drafted a letter to the City of Phoenix advocating for the project to move forward.

Valley Partnership has also taken a

stance on the extension of long-term leases. The organization advocated the legislature change the statutes so that during the recession people could pay their rent with more time.

Land-use and entitlement lawyer Carolyn Oberholtzer, partner at Bergin, Frakes, Smalley & Oberholzter, has been a Valley Partnership member since 2004 and has sat on the board for four years. She works with municipalities and counties on development project phases and has handled entitlements for some of Arizona’s largest masterplanned communities, commercial, industrial and renewable energy facilities. She was retained by Valley Partnership in 2007 to work on a parking calculations issue in Buckeye that she says could have potentially hurt retail development in the city. Oberholtzer worked in tandem with VP’s on-staff lobbyist.

Oberholtzer, with Hickman, sits on the City County committee and worked on impact fees and what the effect would be on large land owners and the ability to plan on infrastructure in the future. The committee worked diligently, Hickman says, on what the legislation would look like.

“We really engaged with this latest go around with the impact-fee legislation,” Oberholtzer adds. “Some of the stakeholder groups were bitterly divided. We got involved to iron out a solution. We’re living with the results.

It’s not perfect legislation but that’s where we try to be most helpful. Where there are areas of disagreement between developers and municipalities.”

“I think the members, we, all have our respective missions and goals for the organizations we represent,” Hickman says. “We live in Arizona and we want this to be a beautiful place to work and raise our families, so to understand that development happens in a progressive way and is thoughtful and wellplanned and not done in a way that will adversely impact our community partners and state.”

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VALLEY PARTNERSHIP

Community Project Lays New Foundation for Homeless, Poverty-Stricken

By Leslie Hughes

L

ast November, members of the commercial real estate industry helped turn a dilapidated, World War II housing facility into one where a community can thrive.

Just a few months prior to the completion of Valley Partnership’s 2013 community project, the Escobedo at Verde Vista development, it was an abandoned complex that had fallen victim to poverty. Where others saw hopeless housing, Save the Family, Valley Partnership, and Gorman & Co. saw a promising future for a large population of Mesa’s homeless and poverty-stricken community. The three put their heads together and hands to work to bring light and life to this Mesa neighborhood that had been left in the dark.

For the past 26 years, Valley Partnership has selected a nonprofit organization to be the recipient of its community service project. Its 2013 selection was Save the Family, an organization that provides housing and life skills to the homeless and impoverished in the Phoenix Metro.

Even with 25 years and $3.5M of community projects up its sleeve, the Escobedo project brought new challenges and “firsts.” To begin, it was Valley Partnership’s first ground-up redevelopment project. The existing foundations were crumbling and had to be completely rebuilt.

“The original units were built to be housing for British and black Americans that were training at Falcon Field during World War II,” says Jacki Taylor, CEO of

74 | May-June 2014

Save the Family Foundation. Post-war, the units served as segregated housing until eight years ago, when the City of Mesa began evacuating the buildings because of decreasing structural stability. Time and money were needed to get the housing to a habitable state and that is where “the dream team” came in.

This development would require extensive construction, which brought Valley Partnership another “first” — the need for city approval and permits for a re-design. Since this was the first community project Valley Partnership had done in the City of Mesa, there were even more new rules and hoops to jump through. Despite the additional work required by all parties involved, the rebuilding of the Washington-Escobedo neighborhood “came together better

than we could have hoped for,” said project co-chair Dena Jones.

The 70 units built were filled almost immediately after construction was completed. A waiting list for families hoping to join the community continues to grow. This project “totally changed the complexion of this neighborhood,” said Taylor. What used to be boarded-up, graffiti-laden and crumbling buildings is now a community of homes, classrooms, computer labs and gym facilities.

“We were all committed to making a difference and working together,” said Jones. “The teams from Gorman, Save the Family, City of Mesa, Tofel Construction and the project sponsors were so wonderful to work with and I cannot thank them enough for giving us the opportunity to take part in the legacy of Escobedo at Verde Vista.”

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1. Save the Family CEO Jacki Taylor, left, project co-chair Dena Jones, center, and Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust Program Associate Erin Goodman. 2.

Volunteers move rubber chips made from recycled tires across the playground. 3. A colorful tile mosaic. 4.

Members of the community help paint exteriors of the homes. 5. More than 200 volunteers showed up on Nov. 2 to lay sod, among other tasks. 6. Long-time community project committee members Ed Hansen, Morgan Realty Advisors, and Janelle Schick, Schick Design Group. 7. Valley Partnership Board of Directors.

8. Logan Simpson Design architects Jeff Lothner and Jay Hicks look over a blueprint.

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And the public has definitely noticed.

Brian Swanton, AZ Market President for Gorman and Company Inc. said the Escobedo project “has been lauded for its success in revitalizing a boarded-up and vacant eyesore in the middle of this single-family neighborhood.”

What is in store for Valley Partnership’s 2014 project? They are in the final stages of deciding whom to partner up with for this year, but Jones knows that whomever they chose, Valley Partnership will be taking much of what they learned from the Escobedo project with them. “Our partnership is comprised of so many talented and hard working professionals committed to giving back. Engaging the committee members during the time we spend together and growing our committee will continue to be a focus for 2014.”

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