PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA – The Board of Supervisors approved Tuesday a Community Bond Program (CBP) in which Pima County would contract with a nonprofit agency to help reduce the population in the county jail.

The funds for the bonds would be for individuals who have a bond set of $30,000 or less and are not facing homicide, sex or child exploitation charges, and who do not have any kind of hold on them from another jurisdiction.

The participant would agree to abide by the conditions of release recommended by Pretrial Services, including being held to the same level of supervision.

“Our present system criminalizes poverty,” County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said while discussing the proposal, which passed on a 3-2 vote.

“We basically confine a lot of folks for very minor crimes for sometimes weeks at a time on a $500 bond that they cannot pay. The level of crime that they commit is one that is not a danger to themselves or the community. For too long, we have had a system that kept people confined in jail because they were impoverished.”

Dean Brault, the director of Pima County Public Defense Services, prepared a whitepaper on the bond project and it was submitted to the Board of Supervisors on August 24, 2020.

His analysis of local data from 2017 determined that the program would have saved 33,497 bed days that year. Using that number, that translates into a savings of about $3.3 million annually in taxpayer money by reducing the jail population, which is also a goal due to COVID-19 health issues.

“The whitepaper I did showed the average person who had a release recommendation was being held for an average of one day under seven weeks. And that shocked me,” Brault said.

If held for several weeks because of the inability to post bond, individuals might lose their employment, vehicle, housing or custody of children.

“Lots of bad things happen to people when they are in custody and they can’t get out because they don’t have the money for it,” Brault said. “This program is designed to get everybody out who we clearly think should be out, and to do that quickly so they get back to their families, get back to their jobs and have their lives be stabilized.”

Brault’s whitepaper showed that just over 1 percent of the cases of people who would have been in this program ended up being incarcerated in a state prison.

According to the proposal, the operational plan for the bond project includes contracting with a nonprofit group, which would most likely create a sub-entity that would act as the community bonding agency. Any forfeiture of bonds is returned to the County’s general fund, which makes this community bond program unique.

“There is no money that is going to be lost because of this,” Brault said. “This is the first program of its kind where it is entirely funded by a county or a government, and that government is not at risk of losing any of those funds.”

Huckelberry, in a memorandum to the Board of Supervisors, notes that while the county’s Criminal Justice Reform Unit has ranked the elimination of cash bail or bonding as one its top priorities, such an act is not permitted under Arizona law.

“Until that cash bond is eliminated, the CBP may be a reasonable substitute,” he wrote.

Westcore secures nine-year lease for build-to-suit with national logistics company

Goodyear, Arizona – Westcore, a leading industrial real estate acquisition, development and asset management firm, acquired approximately 45 acres of land in Goodyear, Arizona from First Industrial for $11.2 million.

Westcore will break ground immediately to build a 721,156-square-foot, build-to-suit distribution center for a national third-party logistics company.

The property is located at Thomas and Citrus roads near I-10 and Loop 303. Westcore is building the distribution center within the PV|303 industrial park. With 36-foot clear height, ESFR and secure site trailer storage capacity, the cross-dock facility will offer features in high demand within the industrial market.

“Goodyear is well suited as a Western regional distribution hub,” said Hack Adams, managing director at Westcore. “The city is proximate to major population centers in Arizona and Southern California. The strength of the Western Phoenix industrial market supported our efforts to execute a nine-year lease with a strong online fulfilment company for a state-of-the-art, build-to-suit distribution center.”

Notable corporate neighbors include Dick’s Sporting Goods, Daimler Chrysler, REI, fairlife and Ferrara Candy Company.

To facilitate on-time delivery of the distribution center in June 2021, Westcore engaged local development company Merit Partners. The architect is Butler Design Group, and engineering work is provided by Hunter Engineering. The general contractor is Stevens-Leinweber Construction.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA – The Arizona Chapter of NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, elected officers and board members for 2021.

The 2021 Executive Committee of NAIOP Arizona comprises Danny Swancey, Chairman, ViaWest Group; Rusty Kennedy, Vice Chairman, CBRE, Inc.; Cathy Thuringer, Treasurer, Trammell Crow Company; John Orsak, Programs Chair, Lincoln Property Company; Phil Breidenbach, Secretary, Colliers International; Jim Wentworth, Wentworth Property Company, Immediate Past Chairman; and Molly Carson, Ryan Companies US, Inc., Past Chair once removed.

New 2021 board members include Chris Anderson, Hines; Jeff Moloznik, RED Development LLC; Mike Olsen, Globe Corporation; and Mike Strittmatter, CBRE, Inc. (Developing Leaders representative, 1-year term).

Returning members of the board of directors are Chris Burson, Alliance Bank of Arizona; Bryon Carney, Cushman & Wakefield; Danielle Feroleto, Small Giants; Derek Flottum, Irgens; Jeff Foster, Prologis; Tom Jarvis, Willmeng Construction; Kate Morris, Transwestern; CJ Osbrink, Newmark Knight Frank; Darren Pitts, Velocity Retail Group; and Candace Rosauro, Layton Construction.

Andrew Cheney, Lee & Associates Arizona, is the board member who is rolling off the leadership team after serving as Board Chairman of NAIOP Arizona in 2018.

“The resilience, creativity and commitment of our members and corporate sponsors made 2020 a great year for our organization despite the unusual conditions,” Swancey said. “We look forward to building upon the successes of 2020 as we enter a new year and are fortunate to have such a highly-qualified and engaged board of directors to help us accomplish this.”

NAIOP, a 19,000+ member organization in North America provides unparalleled industry networking and education, and advocates for effective legislation on behalf of its members. It is the leading association for developers, owners and related professionals in office, industrial, retail and mixed-use real estate.