9th annual event lets teams compete for bragging rights and cash

PHOENIX, ARIZONA – The 9th REIAC/Rockefeller Group Challenge will again offer a cash prize to a winning team of graduating Masters of Real Estate Development (MRED) students from Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business.

This year’s competition will again be held in person after the past two challenges were virtual events because of the pandemic.

The event is May 4 at Arizona Country Club, 4668 E. Orange Blossom Lane, in Phoenix. Registration and networking begin at 3:30 p.m. The presentations are from 4 to 5 p.m. with voting and announcement of the winning team at 5 p.m. A network mixer will be held after the announcement.

“The REIAC/Rockefeller Challenge has become one of our most anticipated and attended events. REIAC’s Program Committee and Board are proud to continue the relationship with ASU’s MRED program and look forward to this year’s event,” said REIAC Southwest President Karla Moran with SRP.

This year the subject property is 25 vacant acres at the SWC of 91st and Northern avenues in Peoria, Arizona. It’s a portion of the of land held in trust for the San Lucy District of the Tohono O’odham Nation.

Student teams are competing to be master developers by presenting proposals to the district. The district has earmarked the property for commercial development that would financially benefit its community members. Students will make proposals to the district to act as co-developer with University Realty.

“This is their thesis – their culminating experience requiring use of all they have learned,” said Mark Stapp, Executive Director of the MRED program. “These projects are wicked problems that test students’ knowledge and would challenge anyone, even the most experienced of us.”

Each team is allotted 10 minutes to present a development solution for a storied piece of Arizona commercial real estate, followed by questions from the audience. Audience members will vote to choose the winning team after the presentations, awarding each winning team member a $1,000 check up to $6,000.

“The Rockefeller Group is honored to participate in what has become an annual tradition that has provided additional motivation for MRED students to be selected as one of the top three teams to compete in the Challenge,” said Mark Singerman, Past President of the REIAC Southwest Chapter and Vice President/Regional Director-Arizona for The Rockefeller Group, the event’s title sponsor.  “The inspiring and creative solutions the teams have presented at the Challenge over the years demonstrate what a fabulous job Mark Stapp and his staff have done in preparing the students for careers in real estate development and investment,” Singerman said.

Registration is required for the event. Registration fee is $30 for non-members and $20 for students and closes May 2.  Register here.

PHOTO: REIAC Rockefeller Group Challenge 2021 winner

Willmeng Construction breaks ground on Phase I of Peoria Logistics Park

PEORIA, ARIZ. – VanTrust Real Estate, LLC (VanTrust), a full–service commercial real estate development company, broke ground on Phase I of the 150–acre Peoria Logistics Park, which will consist of up to eight buildings. The project represents the largest Class A industrial park to be developed in the Peoria submarket.

Peoria Logistics Park is located just two miles east of the Loop 101 at the northeast corner of Northern and 75th avenues, and offers ultimate flexibility to users seeking Class A industrial space ranging from 100,000 to 600,000+ square feet.

Peoria’s Mayor, Cathy Carlat, along with VanTrust’s Director of Development, Jenna Borcherding, and James Murphy, CEO at Willmeng, spoke at the groundbreaking on April 12.

“Peoria Logistics Park will have a tremendous impact on our community’s long–term prosperity by bringing new industries and jobs to support our skilled workforce and fast–growing population,” said Mayor Cathy Carlat. “Peoria has worked strategically and persistently to attract accomplished partners like VanTrust to our city, and I am thrilled to see this project come to life.”

The first phase features a 157,000–square–foot distribution center for a Fortune 500 company, which is expected to open in early 2023. The 17.5–acre site will feature a modern industrial warehouse with the ability to accommodate future expansion. The Phase I general contractor is Willmeng Construction.

“With the massive amount of expansion in the West Valley, Peoria Logistics Park is now considered an infill location, offering industrial users a central location to reach their customers Valley–wide,” said Jenna Borcherding, Director of Development at VanTrust. “In commencing construction on Phase I of Peoria Logistics Park, it has taken a lot of collaboration and partnership with multiple stakeholders to get to where we are today. Industrial demand is robust, so offering a wide array of building sizes and configurations to meet the needs of today’s users has given us a competitive edge in the market.”

CBRE’s Cooper Fratt and John Werstler represented VanTrust Real Estate as the landlord. The tenant was represented by Ted Liles at Cresa. Butler Design Group is the architect of the project.

“We are so grateful to be working on a build–to–suit industrial project of this caliber that further showcases the Valley’s healthy appetite from large–scale companies,” said James Murphy, CEO of Willmeng.

Peoria is only 30 percent developed with plenty of room and support from the city to grow, according to the Peoria Economic Development website. The project is just 25 minutes from Sky Harbor Airport and within a 10–minute drive to restaurants, hotels, and the Westgate Entertainment District. The Park is the latest project added to VanTrust’s impressive portfolio of office, industrial, and multifamily developments in Arizona and southern Nevada.

For more information on Peoria Logistics Park, visit Peoria Logistics Park – A Development of VanTrust Real Estate.

Phoenix, Arizona – The new Arizona Jewish Security Initiative (AZJSI) was founded to provide an integrated, comprehensive approach to information sharing and best practices in providing Synagogues with cutting edge security. The information and training are invaluable and benefit the whole of the community. It is exclusively manned by volunteers and is practiced as its motto states, “for the people, by the people.”

The founder of AZJSI (www.AZJSI.org) is an unlikely one, as he and his team members are not former sworn law enforcement officers but are volunteers who are highly trained for their task at hand. Founder Ian Turner felt it was time to take further action and bring the community together to create an educational and training platform to take preventative actions before unexpected tragedy could occur. Without the proper training, what would the general public do in the event of an emergency? The new initiative includes helping citizens understand the threats they could potentially face. To help articulate this sensitive subject in an effective manner, Turner asked Bruce Whitney of ICSAVE (www.ICSAVE.org) to run their ILIVED Program (Active Shooter), as well as their Stop the Bleed training program to help civilians be able to protect themselves. It is imperative to “First Start with Why…” The ILIVED Program workshop clearly demonstrates that it is better to have proactive security teams at synagogues, thereby avoiding active shooter events.

Turner partnered with The Rebibo Center for Jewish Life, who hosted the full-day intensive workshop on their campus in central Phoenix on March 20th, 2022. The training was broken down into two sections. The first 2-hour session was a “Stop the Bleed” program led by SWAT Paramedics. “The “Bleeding Control” workshop is a comprehensive training program that teaches participants basic life-saving medical interventions. The rest of the day (a 6-hour session) was spent learning the building blocks of how an Active Shooter Event happens, and what unarmed civilians can do to stop it.

Irwin Sheinbein, the President of the campus shared, “Today’s safety training was outstanding. ICSave does an incredible job. They took on very important safety issues and made me feel very comfortable. Their knowledge and expertise are great. I want to use them for teacher training. Ian, thank you again for bringing them in.” (A video of training can be found here). Also in attendance at the training were members of the Phoenix Police Department Community Action Team of the 600 precinct and a local Federal Bureau Investigation Agent.

“With all the tragedies that have occurred at Jewish synagogues over the last several years, I felt the Jewish community needed to do something about it,” said Turner.

The shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue in particular had a profound impact on Turner as well as on the members of his synagogue. This was an antisemitic mass shooting that took place in October of 2018 at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The perpetrator killed eleven people and wounded six. It was the deadliest attack ever on the Jewish community in the United States. Only several months later, a man fatally shot one woman and injured three other persons, including the synagogue’s Rabbi at the Chabad of Poway in California. In response to these attacks, The Rebibo Center formed a security team with the help of The Community Security Service. As a team, they have been evolving ever since. The point of the AZJSI is to share the knowledge acquired over the last 3 plus years of securing their facility with other Jewish Institutions.

“I have been involved in one way or another with operational security in the past with volunteering in police roles as well as service in the Israeli Defense Forces, but after the Pittsburg tragedy, I knew I had to do something about it. I wanted to take a more active involvement in helping in these situations,” as Turner continued to express.

Turner’s mission to spread awareness is only the beginning. The Initiative founder is also looking to raise money to bring members of his organization to advanced ongoing training that far exceeds law enforcement standards and secure Jewish Day Schools with highly trained armed guards. Everyone involved in these training efforts are volunteers. They are also putting their own safety on the line for the greater good of learning how to protect others, as well as be prepared to manage a crisis situation that may occur. The best violent situation is the one that is avoided through showing a professional demeanor and becoming a very difficult target.

Turner is in the process of integrating Magen Am Security (www.MagenAmUSA.com) into his operations and getting them fully licensed to operate in the state of Arizona. Magen Am, led by its visionary leader Rabbi Yossi Eilfort, is a non-profit organization that is a licensed armed security agency in California. It is dedicated to the creation of essential, highly trained and licensed armed security teams within the Jewish community. The benefit of affiliating with Magen Am is trifold. It will add not only more critical incident training, but also insurance coverage for volunteers, and protection to the institutions where they volunteer. Their sole purpose is to protect the lives of other Jews using volunteerism, as it is the most cost-effective way to have proactive security. This is especially germane after the events of Colleyville, Texas where several Jews were taken hostage recently. The Arizona Jewish Security Initiative is not only about bringing more awareness of safety and security to the community but helping build and grow a training program that will help save lives while simultaneously building community leaders. Ian Turner is a seasoned commercial real estate broker in the valley with Commercial Industrial Arizona Advisors and feels there is no greater reward than giving back to the community he serves.

If you are interested in learning more or would like to get involved, please contact Ian Turner at [email protected].

PHOTO: Ian Turner