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Daily News for Commercial Real Estate & Business – April 13, 2011

Here are the news articles you might find interesting today for commercial real estate and business:

To view the April 2011 Commercial Property Executive magazine, click here.

No-kill animal shelter to break ground in Phoenix on Thursday Groundbreaking is scheduled Thursday for a new no-kill animal shelter in east Phoenix that will double the capacity for animals while also expanding other parts of the existing facility. The Arizona Animal Welfare League and the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals together are overseeing the project, which will add 53 kennels to the facility at 40th and Washington streets, which has 62 existing kennels. View article…

Salvation Army kicking off major Phoenix expansion The Salvation Army‘s Phoenix divisional headquarters is getting ready to break ground in the next 30 days for a project that pumps $15.5 million into its current location at 2707 E. Van Buren St. The work will include a major renovation and demolition and construction on the 12-acre site will begin in the next month. View article…

Downtown Phoenix Bioscience Update Investment in the Downtown Phoenix Bioscience sector continues to grow with a major announcement by Mayor Gordon and plans for a new medical lab. In his recent State of the City Address, Mayor Gordon announced that investor Patrick Soon-Shiong plans to locate his newest non-profit venture, the Institute for Advanced Health, in Downtown Phoenix. View article…

Planners to roll out visions for Vistas development Despite the suffocating recession and a change at the helm of the Arizona Land Department, one of the biggest land-planning projects in Arizona history is nearing the end of a crucial early phase. By late this summer, the East Valley Partnership and the Pinal Partnership will host public meetings to unveil four possible scenarios for developing Superstition Vistas, a 275-square-mile area that lies at the Southeast Valley’s doorstep in northern Pinal County. View article…

Gilbert landowners want town to pay $120,000 for 20-foot strip The owners of a narrow strip of land in south Gilbert claim their property was taken wrongfully to make way for a residential street and are threatening to sue unless the town settles their claim for $120,000. Land condemnation attorney Franklyn Jeans on March 24 filed the claim on behalf of trustee owners Jean MacVittie and John Osborn, who say a 20-foot strip that is now part of Partridge Drive west of Val Vista Drive belongs to their estate and was never purchased when a developer paved it over several years ago. View article…

McDonald’s in Arizona will hire 1,000 workers next week The 277 McDonald’s fast-food restaurants in Arizona are looking to hire more than 1,000 employees at a companywide hiring event April 19. Restaurants in Arizona and across the country will be accepting applications and conducting interviews throughout the day in a move to hire as many as 50,000 new employees nationwide. View article…

Phoenix-area compensation on the rise Compensation in greater Phoenix was up from the previous year on the PayScale Index for the first quarter of 2011, leaving the city tied at No. 4 in the nation with the Washington and the Dallas metro areas. View article…

Phoenix No. 2 for emergency medical care Phoenix has been named the No. 2 city in the nation for emergency medical care by HealthGrades – an independent source of physician information and hospital quality ratings. Arizona has two of the top cities, with Tucson checking in at No. 7. View article…

Phoenix rebounding as winter-visitor mecca This season’s influx of snowbirds delivered the best numbers in years for the Valley’s winter-visitor industry. The snowbird season started to rebound last year, and the trend has continued as more winter visitors arrived earlier and stayed longer, according to owners of recreational-vehicle and mobile-home parks. View article…

Rate of Bank Failures Slows, But Is It a Trend or a Blip? While the pace of U.S. bank failures has slowed considerably in recent quarters, giving troubled financial institutions more time to raise capital, a watch list compiled by New York-based Trepp LLC indicates the banking sector is far from being out of the woods. View article…

Feel free to contact me regarding any of these stories, the current market, distressed commercial real estate opportunities or your property.