TUCSON, ARIZ. – The Tucson office of engineering consulting firm Terracon recently presented a $3,500 check from its foundation to Tucson Clean and Beautiful, which will use the money for its youth environmental leadership mentoring program.

The Terracon Foundation Board selected TC&B as its grant recipient. Terracon Senior Associate and Tucson Office Manager Derek Koller submitted the nomination. Koller recently was promoted to Senior Associate based on his exemplary leadership at Terracon and his community involvement.

The funds will be used to support the Youth Environmental Leadership, Learning and Action (YELLA) school mentoring program.

YELLA allows high school students to mentor school-based youth groups to develop and implement action projects that result in environmental improvements on campus and changes in environmental attitudes and behaviors of students.

“It was my honor and privilege to present this wonderful organization with a Terracon Foundation grant,” Koller said. “Our Tucson office has been involved with TC&B for more than 10 years. We have sponsored and maintained a 1-mile stretch of road where our employees help pick up litter.

“I became passionate about TC&B because they are a community-based environmental organization with an educational component. I am especially excited about the YELLA program because it will give high school students the opportunity to mentor younger students and encourage creativity and volunteerism,” Koller said.

Student leaders in YELLA will plan, plan, recruit, execute, celebrate and evaluate projects.

“We are thrilled to receive this grant from the Terracon Foundation,” said Katie Gannon, Executive Director of Tucson Clean and Beautiful. “This funding will support two high school student mentors who will develop and lead service-learning projects to address real-world environmental challenges. We are grateful to Terracon for helping build 21st century environmental leaders while moving school campuses toward cleaner greener and more sustainable solutions.”

Terracon is an employee-owned consulting engineering firm with more than 4,000 employees providing environmental, facilities, geotechnical, and materials services from more than 140 offices with services available in all 50 states.

Terracon currently ranks 24th on the Engineering News-Record list of Top 500 Design Firms and is ranked No. 1 in Asbestos and Lead Abatement Design. To learn more about Terracon visit terracon.com/offices/tucson/.

The metro’s tech employment base has grown 90 percent in five years

TUCSON – Tucson was ranked #1 on CBRE’s list of up-and-coming tech talent markets in the firm’s annual Scoring Tech Talent Report, which ranks 50 U.S. and Canadian markets according to their ability to attract and grow tech talent.

The new report found that the 10 fastest-growing markets overall increased their tech labor pools by between 33% and 54% over the past five years. Tucson’s tech workforce grew 90 percent over the last five years to 15,700 tech workers—the highest five-year job growth of all 50 small, large and up-and-coming markets included in the report. Additionally, Tucson surpassed all other markets for five-year annual tech wage growth, which has grown 29 percent to $90,528.

The top 10 up-and-coming markets and their associated tech talent job growth rates over the last five years were:

“Tucson has many ingredients to justify itself as the top up-and-coming tech talent market,” said Matt Siegel, Managing Director of CBRE in Tucson. “There are many initiatives by the University of Arizona and private sector development that has created a tech ecosystem that should continue to thrive. Venture development by the University of Arizona coupled with many growing companies in Tucson has attracted talent to Southern Arizona and there have been numerous innovative different companies that have established a presence and been able to capitalize on the resources that Tucson has to offer businesses and families.”

The top five markets for tech talent in 2019 were the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Toronto, Washington, D.C., and New York, all large markets with a tech labor pool of more than 50,000. The Tech Talent Scorecard is determined based on 13 unique metrics, including tech talent supply, growth, concentration, cost, completed tech degrees, industry outlook for job growth, and market outlook for both office and apartment rent cost growth.

View full Tech Talent 2019 Report here . To view individual market statistics and rankings, including rankings on the Scorecard, access CBRE’s Tech Talent Analyzer.

PHOENIX, Arizona – Cushman & Wakefield announced that MIG Real Estate LLC sold Arcadia Gateway Center. Clayton A. Varga, trustee of the Varga Revocable Trust, purchased the property located at 4222 E. Thomas Road in Phoenix for $17.25 million ($191 PSF).

Arcadia Gateway Center is a four-story, 90,225-square-foot Class A multi-tenant office building. Currently 96% leased and constructed in 1999, the building offers a three-story parking structure, building signage, large L-shaped floor plates and fast access to Sky Harbor International Airport and the Loop 101, 51, 143 and 202 Freeways. Ideally positioned west of the northwest corner of Thomas Road and 44th Street, the property is in close proximity to over 75 restaurants and over 3 million square feet of retail within one mile.

Eric Wichterman, Mike Coover and Tim Whittemore of Cushman & Wakefield Phoenix represented the seller in the transaction and McAlister Cleary of Marcus & Millichap represented the buyer.

Wichterman stated, “Arcadia Gateway has achieved impressive leasing success and is a proven force in the northern portion of the 44th Street Corridor. The new ownership will enjoy reliable cash flow and healthy lease rate growth as the property continues to thrive due to a collection of strong fundamentals, including its close proximity to the prestigious Arcadia and Paradise Valley neighborhoods and a superb collection of restaurant amenities.”