Coffee, açaí bowls, cookies and waxing join current tenant roster

PHOENIX, Arizona – Cushman & Wakefield and Fenix Development, a Los Angeles-based real estate investment and development company, announced today that three additional retail tenants – four concepts – will join Watermark Tempe’s Phase I. The four concepts are DRNK coffee + tea, QWENCH juice bar, Crumbl Cookies, and Sugar Me Wax.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Brent Mallonee is exclusively marketing the retail and restaurant space. He says, “As construction proceeds and summer is ending we’re getting tremendous traction on our lease up at Watermark Tempe.”

DRNK coffee + tea and QWENCH juice bar are two emerging concepts based out of Hollywood, Calif. that will occupy 2,408-square-feet in its first Arizona location. DRNK is an edgy new franchise model offering world class organic lattes, espressos and teas. QWENCH offers a diverse selection of raw squeezed juices, nutrient dense smoothie blends (infused with superfoods), handmade organic Açaí bowls and other healthy snacks.

Crumbl Cookies will occupy 1,353-square-feet of space at the new Tempe development. The first Crumbl opened in Logan, Utah in 2017 and has since expanded to over 31 locations in six different states.

Phoenix-based, Sugar Me Wax is a full body salon that offers sugaring, waxing, skin care and lashes/microblading. Since its inception in 2018, Sugar Me has expanded with eight locations throughout the Valley and the 1,136-square-feet space at Watermark will be its ninth location.

“The vision for Watermark to become Tempe’s new lifestyle destination is quickly being realized. As we continue to expand and diversify the center’s mix, these retailers will provide an amenity-rich environment for our office tenants, residents of Aura apartments and the community. We look forward to the grand opening of all of our retail partners and their success,” said Fenix Development’s Mike Loretz.

Phase I is set to be completed by October 2019, and will include 44,000 SF of high-end restaurant and retail space. DRNK coffee + tea and QWENCH juice bar, Crumbl Cookies, and Sugar Me Wax are the most recent tenants to join Obon Sushi + Bar + Ramen, V’s Barbershop, Dip Nail Bar, and Panini Kabob Grill. Opening dates coming soon.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new Hoyt Advisory Services Study commissioned by the National Apartment Association (NAA) and National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) reveals that the apartment industry and its residents annually contribute $53.8 billion to Phoenix’s economy, $73.2 billion to Arizona’s and more than $3.4 trillion – or $9.3 billion daily – to the national economy.

The new report, available at WeAreApartments.org, provides a detailed breakdown of the economic impact nationally, by state, and in 50 metro areas.

In Phoenix, the apartment industry supports 284,400 jobs. Other financial contributions break down as follows: resident spending contributes $48.6 billion to the local economy, operations add $1.9 billion, new construction contributes $2.5 billion, and renovation and repair add $770 million.

“As demand for apartments continues to grow locally and nationally, the significant contributions to Phoenix’s economy also increase,” said Courtney LeVinus, President and CEO of Arizona Multihousing Association (AMA). “Apartments drive our local economy by adding employment opportunities, as well as revenue from resident spending, new construction, renovation and repair, and operations, all of which are positively impacting Phoenix.

According to Bloomberg, 200 people on average move into Metro Phoenix on a daily basis. LeVinus noted that creates the need for more rental housing, especially workforce and affordable housing.

“Apartments are an ideal solution for many, including students, recent graduates, young professionals, families and empty nesters,” LeVinus said. “The apartment industry will continue to work with our elected and appointed officials at all levels of government to expand the apartment housing supply to meet demand.”

The study also determined that the apartment industry has a major impact on local, state and national tax economies. Locally, tax payments associated with local apartment operations added $360 million and their residents contributed more than $5.5 billion in taxes to the Metro Phoenix economy. These taxes support schools, improvements to local infrastructure and other critical services in Phoenix.

In Arizona, the apartment industry also gives back to its community.  AMA and our members have contributed over $1 million to charities including UMOM New Day Center, SARRC, Our Family Services, Autism Speaks Arizona, Tucson Homeless Connect and the Julie Hurst and Steve Peters Education Fund scholarship.

Highlights from the report include:

• All four sectors of the industry have posted very strong growth, punctuated by the construction industry ramping up to meet the unprecedented demand for apartments this cycle – reaching a height of 346,900 new apartments built in 2017, up from 129,900 in 2011.
• Previous research by Hoyt Advisory Services demonstrated a need to build an average of 328,000 apartments per year at a variety of price points, which would bring continued economic activity. This number of apartment completions has only been surpassed twice since 1989.
• Hoyt research also found that a significant portion of the existing apartment stock will need to be renovated in the coming years, boosting the renovation and repair sector.

“The apartment industry’s contribution is one that has grown in recent years, fueled by increased rental demand overall as population and employment growth continue and renting becomes a preferred tenure choice for millions of Americans,” said Eileen Marrinan, Managing Director of Eigen 10 Advisors, which partnered with Hoyt.

Visit www.WeAreApartments.org and view the data, which is broken down by state and metro area. Visitors can also use the Apartment Community Estimator (ACE), a tool that allows users to enter the number of apartment homes of an existing or proposed community to determine the potential economic impact within a particular state or metro area.  For the purposes of this study, apartments are defined as rental apartments in buildings with five or more units.

Exhibition showcases selections from one of the nation’s premier collections of Oaxacan woodcarving and ceramics

Tucson, Arizona – Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block (TMA) examines how art transformed as Oaxaca’s artisan towns evolved in Oaxacan Folk Art from the Shepard Barbash and Vicki Ragan Collection, scheduled for October 3, 2019 to August 9, 2020. The exhibition will open with a free community celebration on Thursday, October 3 from 5—8 p.m.

The exhibition includes more than 100 wooden carvings and clay sculptures created in the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. Subjects include festival and market scenes, Bible stories, a variety of animals, and mythical and fantastic figures. The exhibition is organized by Tucson Museum of Art and curated by Kristopher Driggers, Schmidt Curator of Latin American Art.

Writer Shepard Barbash and photographer Vicki Ragan collected more than 1200 pieces of folk art since the 1980s, building one of the nation’s premier collections of Oaxacan woodcarving and ceramics. In March 2019 they donated their collection to Tucson Museum of Art in order to keep the artwork together and allow it to tell the story of artistic and social transformation in Oaxaca.

“For thousands of years, artists in Oaxaca have created images reflecting how they see their world. Some of that history persists, but the woodcarvings in the Barbash-Ragan Collection are special in that they represent a bold new tradition,” said Driggers. “These artists shaped their creations to fit their own interests and local contexts. The works they produced are imaginative, clever, and darkly humorous.”

As these artforms came to prominence on the international art market, conditions in local towns were transformed by new economic prominence and by greater contact with an international community of dealers, collectors, scholars, and others.

According to Driggers, “Visually, Oaxacan folk art is exciting—the works in this exhibition do not shy away from bold color, from brilliant surfaces, or from unexpected shapes. But just as importantly, the Barbash-Ragan Collection shows us that Latin American folk art can be both highly experimental and deeply in touch with the context in which it is made.”

Two public programs have been scheduled in conjunction with the opening of the exhibition:

• Opening celebration (October 3, 5—8 p.m.). Live music by guitarist Eduardo Costa, dances by Ballet Folklorico Arizona (5:30 p.m.), and a pop-up shop by La Syrena Barrio Books as well as art-making, gallery activities, and a cash bar. Free admission.
• Collector’s Conversation (October 5, 2 p.m.). Join Shepard Barbash and Vicki Ragan in conversation with Senior Curator Dr. Julie Sasse as they discuss their passion for collecting Oaxacan folk art and share interesting stories about the artisans they befriended. Free for members/included with paid admission. RSVP required as space is limited.

Oaxacan Folk Art from the Shepard Barbash and Vicki Ragan Collection is presented with support from TMA’s Latin American Art Patrons.

The 2019/2020 Exhibition Season at the Tucson Museum of Art is generously sponsored by Joyce Broan.