REGISTRATION FOR 2017 PHXMetro Dev SUMMIT Now Open

REGISTRATION FOR THE 2017 PHOENIX METRO DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT IS NOW OPEN!       The 3rd Annual Phoenix Metro Development Summit is being held on Tuesday, April 18, 2017 at the JW Marriott at Camelback Inn in Scottsdale, AZ. Developers and land-owners come together in the half-day summit to present and discuss where the opportunities are for new commercial development in the Valley.   WHY ATTEND? Learn about opportunities from the developers and agency insiders who are either making the deals happen or influencing how they come together. Network with dealmakers and industry professionals who will help your development projects be delivered to market.       Take advantage of our early bird pricing and register now!

*Program runs from 12:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., with a networking lunch before & mixer afterwards.   Source: InfusionSoft

WATERWORKS SPENDING : Here in Mesa Worth $175 Million$

Fortiline Waterworks forms partnership with Farnsworth Wholesale Company


MESA, AZ, FEBRUARY 6, 2017 -- Farnsworth Wholesale Company ("Farnsworth") and Fortiline Waterworks ("Fortiline") are now operating under one roof in Mesa and Peoria, Arizona. The new locations will be Fortiline's first entry into the Arizona market, contiuing its westward expansion. The two branches are located at 4863 E. Ingram St., Mesa, AZ 85205 and 8051 W. Olive Ave., Peoria, AZ 85345.
Fortiline, the second-largest American-owned wholesale distributor of underground water, sewer and storm utility products in the United States, was acquired by MORSCO, a Fort Worth-based distributor of commercial and residential plumbing products, heating and cooling equipment (HVAC), and pipe, valves and fittings (PVF) on October 31, 2016. The acquisition provides MORSCO's vendors and customers with greater opportunities, allowing for MORSCO companies, including Farnsworth, to leverage Fortiline's vendor and customer relationships.
Readers of this blog will note that EXPANDING WATER INFRASTRUCTURE AND WASTEWATER TREATMENT IS A HUGE SLICE-OF-THE-PIE FOR SPENDING FINANCED BY BONDS - it's about 60% and way more than Public Safety by a factor of six
For this you need pipes

"These initial multi-offering locations are the foundation of Fortiline's model to expand waterworks across the country," said Mike Swedick, Fortiline President and CEO. "Offering customers a one-stop-shop for plumbing, HVAC and waterworks products gives Fortiline an advantage over our competitors and better positions us as the preferred and most trusted resource for Plumbing, HVAC and utility infrastructure product solutions. Our staff is the best in the industry, and we have the talent and know how to achieve our growth goals, while maintaining the level of support and service our customers expect. We look forward to making additional announcements on these growth initiatives in the future."

"Our acquisition of Fortiline in October 2016 demonstrated our commitment to the waterworks industry and being a leader in the markets we serve," said Chip Hornsby, CEO of MORSCO. "Operating Fortiline out of Farnsworth's Mesa and Peoria branches ensures we are a leader in the market and allows customers to benefit from both companies solid relationships with their vendors and manufacturers. We look forward to Farnsworth and Fortiline joining together to continue to provide superior customer service to the Arizona market."

For information on Fortiline and Farnsworth, visit
www.Fortiline.com or www.fwcaz.com.

About Fortiline WaterworksFortiline Waterworks, headquartered in Concord, N.C., is the second-largest American-owned wholesale distributor of underground water, sewer and storm utility products in the United States.
Founded in 1997, Fortiline distributes more than 75,000 SKUs to a diverse base of more than 4,500 contractor, developer and municipal customers through a network of 44 branches in 12 states in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.
The company's vision is to be the preferred and most trusted resource for utility infrastructure product solutions and Fortiline backs that with specialty divisions and extensive inventory at locations across the country.
To learn more, visit www.fortiline.com.

About Farnsworth Wholesale CompanyFarnsworth Wholesale is a leader in the Arizona plumbing, HVAC, and appliance industries. They carry full lines of kitchen, bath and plumbing supplies for the residential and commercial plumbing contractor, in addition to HVAC and waterworks products. With eight locations in Arizona, Farnsworth provides service to clients from Tucson, to metro Phoenix, to Flagstaff.
Members of the Team @ Farnsworth Wholesale

Drew Roberts - General Manager
Jack Stapley - Vice President, Co-Founder
Clay Stapley - Sales Manager
D’nette Beagley - Director of Accounts Payable
Lucy Kelly - Credit Manager
Scott Beagley - Director of Operations

For more information, please visit www.fwcaz.com

Original presser here

Wallet Hub Ranks Arizona One of The 5 Worst States To Raise A Family

WATCH
Best and worst states to raise your family

Published on Feb 7, 2017

Views: 3,515

Where you decide to live can be crucial to raising a family. There are so many decisions to weigh from education to safety to cost of living. To determine the best states for families, WalletHub looked at 40 indicators across five categories: 1) Family Fun, 2) Health & Safety, 3) Education & Child Care, 4) Affordability and 5) Socioeconomics. Each of the 40 indicators were graded on a weighted 100-point scale, with 100 being the most favorable of conditions.

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Re: The Demise of Malls ? What A Transcript Can Do

What the CEO of the country's largest mall operator won't bother getting into

Krystina Gustafson | @KrystinaGustafs

Wednesday, 1 Feb 2017 | 12:33 PM ET

For those monitoring the demise of American shopping malls, David Simon has some choice words for you.

On Simon Property Group's fourth-quarter earnings call, the CEO of the country's largest mall owner said he would not bore analysts with a lecture about the misunderstood mall industry — right before launching into a diatribe on that very topic.
[Above image from the piece David Simon, chairman and CEO of Simon Property Group]

Here is a transcript from that call, compiled by Seeking Alpha:
Now could be the time on the call where I could go into a lengthy philosophical discussion on the popular misconceptions about the mall business, created by the never-ending current public narrative.

And I could counter that by pointing [out] that we have 434 department stores in our portfolio, and only one is vacant, and how in the recently announced department store closing, we have only one closure in our portfolio, or how we have added more than 275 sit-down or quick-service restaurants, more than 20 entertainment concepts and more than 80 big-box tenants across our portfolio over the last four, five years, or how we've added mixed-use components to our centers in the last several years, we have built 10 hotels and residents representing nearly 3,000 units.

Or how according to a recent survey a Generation Z members — a group that outsizes millennials — 70 percent of those surveyed visit the mall at least once a month and visit more than four stores during the visit, or how the consumers still like to shop in stores because they want to touch and feel the products before they make a final decision.

Or how online retail sales have grown to less than 10 percent of total retail sales, and that the retailers who occupy our centers represent approximately two-thirds of those total online sales, or how leading e-commerce retailers, like Warby Parker, Blue Nile, Untuckit, Shinola, among others, are opening physical stores because of the inherent advantage a physical location provides as well as being a natural extension to the digital world.

Or how basket sizes are higher, return rates are lower in stores compared to online purchases, and margins are much higher in the store than they are in the Internet, or how emerging brands like GUIDEBOAT, NIC+ZOE, Peloton, to name a few, continue to see the mall as the launch pad to build their brand awareness as a result of the significant traffic they experience being at the mall, much like Apple or Microsoft did several years ago.

Or how we are making all these changes and enhancements to our center, even though Congress has tilted the scale towards e-commerce by not implementing the Marketplace Fairness Act, which [means] not requiring the sales and use tax to be paid by consumers who buy products online, even though they are required to do so under existing laws.

But I could do that, but I won't, because we've talked about that all before, so I'd rather focus on what we do and how we do it, and that is

• we reinvest in our properties, making them the best centers in the respective markets.
• we grow our earnings,
• we generate excess cash flow,
• we pay higher dividends, and
• we achieve all of this while maintaining the industry's strongest balance sheet.

That's our model and that's what we do for the benefit of our shareholders, our communities, and our retailers.
We continue to record solid key operating metrics and grow our cash flow.

Simon's comments underscore a growing divide in the industry, as investments into the country's most lucrative properties are extending their lead over struggling malls.Indeed, Simon's 2016 funds from operations, a closely monitored metric among real estate investment trusts, rose 6.4 percent over the prior year, to $3.79 billion. That metric incorporates net income, amortization and depreciation, and subtracts any gains on the sale of assets.

 

DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR MESA URBAN PROTOTYPING PROPOSALS

The Main Street Prototyping Festival seeks to enhance downtown Mesa’s vibrancy through community-led design and experimentation.

Request for Proposals: Main Street Prototyping Festival
Applicants can submit proposals to create temporary projects – from gathering places to pathways, from games to performances to interactive artwork – that activate public space and engage the community toward enhancing connectivity and vibrancy in Downtown Mesa. The temporary design installations (prototypes) will be shown in a two-day festival in November 2017 and residents will be invited to vote for their favorites.

DEADLINE EXTENDED: Submit by 11:59pm, Feb. 20, 2017

Who can apply?
We seek proposals of prototype ideas from all types of disciplines and perspectives, and proposals can be submitted by either individuals or teams. The idea is to make Downtown Mesa’s public spaces more interactive and connected.

To download the RFP click here: http://bit.ly/2fA5Nx9

Questions?
Contact Samuel Peña, Project Coordinator at
Samuel.Pena@mesaartscenter.com 
Call > 480.644.2168.

Americans Are Living a Fantasy (C. Hedges, G. Packer, S. Tanenhaus)

A spectacle to listen to

Published on Jan 29, 2017

Views: 18,577

A Miami Book Fair video dating back to 2009 that could have been made today in Jan 2017. A prediction of what has just occurred. "We have remained 40 year old children... The illusion we are fed [is such]...we are unprepared for the wolf which bays at the door...and search for a savior...and commit collective suicide," Chris Hedges.
"Saturation with information has not made us better informed nor more informed about the rest of the world" George Packer.
"Classical vs modern conservatism in which conservatives are actually pro-government and Bill Clinton is a conservative..." Sam Tanenhaus.

Adapt Disrupt Create