Arizona Business Gazette 3-05-2020

Page 1

The Business Resource • abgnews.com THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

INSIDE: MORE ESSENTIAL NEWS ABOUT THE METRO PHOENIX ECONOMY New in the neighborhood

Regional report

Markets

Business leads

Learn more about a new business. Page 2

Business news from around the Valley. Page 4

Widely held stocks and top mutual funds. Pages 5-6

Bankruptcies, incorporations, calendar. Pages 7-11

Metro Phoenix leads nation for rent increases Surprise hike highest at 16%; see the fi gure for your Valley city Catherine Reagor Columnist Arizona Republic USA TODAY NETWORK

Metro Phoenix apartment dwellers aren’t seeing any relief from hefty increases in monthly rents. The Valley leads the U.S. for jumps in rents, again.

The higher rents come as more luxury complexes open and older more affordable complexes are renovated into pricier places to live. Every uptick means more people struggle to aff ord a place to live. Overall, area rents jumped an average of 7.4% during the past year, accord to national research fi rm Yardi Matrix. Las Vegas and Sacramento had the next biggest rent increases, and those

were in the 5% range. Nearly every Valley city outpaced the national 3% average bump in rental prices for the past year, according to Yardi Matrix.

1-bedroom rents by city Rents in Scottsdale are the priciest among larger metro Phoenix cities, while rents in Glendale are the most af-

fordable, according to apartment fi rm Zumper. Tempe was the only larger Valley city that saw the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment decline — by 1%. A city-by-city look of average rent and price increase since January 2019 for one-bedroom apartments, according to Zumper, shows: ❚ Scottsdale: $1,460, up 5%. ❚ Gilbert: $1,260, up 12%. ❚ Chandler: $1,220, up 6%. See RENTS, Page 4

Sands Chevrolet owner funded push for council salary boost Jen Fifield Arizona Republic USA TODAY NETWORK

BioLab Sciences founder Bob Maguire stands at his company headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona on Feb. 18, 2020. THOMAS HAWTHORNE, MICHAEL CHOW AND THOMAS HAWTHORNE/THE REPUBLIC

‘Eye-opening moment’ inspired biotech company BioLab Sciences specializes in advanced wound healing Georgann Yara

Special to Arizona Republic USA TODAY NETWORK

Software industry veteran Bob Maguire walked away without a scratch from a roll-over accident that should have killed him. And across the country, patients who suff er from severe skin wounds – some so resistant to treatment that amputation appeared to be the only option – have found relief.

For the last two years, these seemingly unrelated scenarios have been connected by BioLab Sciences, the Scottsdale biotech company that focuses on advanced wound healing that Maguire founded in 2018. “When we’re showing before and after pictures to people here, they see them and get emotional. They well up in tears,” Maguire said of employees’ reactions to patients’ photos.

BioLab’s latest regenerative product MyOwn Skin is turning heads for its success in the skin graph segment. The technology uses a 1-cm square sample of the patient’s skin to grow a larger size to accommodate what is needed to cover and treat the area. In most cases, skin is taken from behind the ear. Podiatrists take the sample from an inconspicuous spot below the knee. Because it perfectly matches the pa-

Making important advances

See BIOLAB, Page 3

Gov. Ducey downsizes, buys Paradise Valley home Catherine Reagor and Andrew Oxford Arizona Republic | USA TODAY NETWORK

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey isn’t moving far from the 11,400-square-foot Paradise Valley mansion he sold for $8.15 million last week. He and wife, Angela, bought a much smaller ranch a few miles away in the posh enclave. The Duceys paid $1.375 million cash for a 1958 home with 3,100 square feet, three bedrooms and four bathrooms, according to public real estate records. The Grubb family trust operating under the name DKCK, LLC sold the home.

When the Duceys listed their Paradise Valley mansion for $8.75 million in December, the governor’s spokesman Patrick Ptak said the couple were downsizing as their three sons grow up. A group called PST Properties of Colorado bought the Ducey’s mansion. PST checked the box signaling it plans to use the property as a primary residence and not a rental on the real estate affi davit for the sale. Reach the reporter at 602-444-8040 or Catherine.Reagor@arizona republic.com. Follow her on Twitter @Catherinereagor. Check out home values on Streetscout.com.

The owner of Sands Chevrolet, a car dealership with locations in Glendale and Surprise, contributed most of the money last fall to try to convince Glendale voters to give Mayor Jerry Weiers and the rest of the City Council substantial pay raises. A few months later, the council approved a $5 million contract with his company. Louis Sands IV, better known as Buzz Sands, also contributed to Weiers’ and Councilman Ian Hugh’s 2020 reelection campaigns. Sands said his donations to the failed ballot measure and the two politicians were in no way meant to infl uence the contract vote. The donations don’t violate state law, and views on the infl uence of donations are mixed. Some say it’s natural that those with ties to a city would donate to campaigns and it likely gains access, but not necessarily votes. Others bemoan the role of corporate money in campaigns. Weiers told The Arizona Republic that any person or business has a First Amendment right to donate to campaigns. Similar campaign donations from zoning attorneys representing projects going before city councils have faced scrutiny in recent years in Tempe and Mesa. One diff erence here is that Sands, his family and his business have been part of the Glendale community for decades, and through the years they have given millions to local causes. Lonna Atkeson, director of the Center for the Study of Voting, Elections and Democracy at the University of New Mexico, said it’s reasonable to point out the donations and their potential infl uence, simply to increase awareness. But, because of Sands’ history and involvement in the community, she said, it’s not at all clear that he was giving the money to infl uence the upcoming vote. “Companies ... are strategic,” she said. “But they also live there, they are part of the community.”

Sands contributes majority of money

President Donald Trump greets Arizona Governor Doug Ducey (third from right) during a rally at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix on Feb. 19, 2020. DAVID WALLACE/THE REPUBLIC

INDEX Real estate ❚ Page 2 Business news ❚ Page 3 Regional report ❚ Page 4 Stocks ❚ Pages 5-6 Personal finance ❚ Page 12

Sands donated $10,000 of the $11,100 raised by the Best of the West political action committee before the Nov. 5 election, according to campaign fi nance reports. The committee used the money to send voters text messages and fl yers in support of the salary increase. The ballot initiative asked voters to See GLENDALE, Page 3

Copyright 2020 Vol. 140, No. 10 Established 1880 $1.00

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