Adam Baugh

This article originally appeared in the Arizona Republic.

The Tanger Outlets in Glendale plans to expand its footprint with new restaurant space and an entertainment venue after buying vacant land adjacent to the outlet mall.

Tanger Outlets bought seven acres from the Arizona Department of Transportation at an auction in 2021. The narrow strip of land runs vertically north to south between the outlet mall and Loop 101. It was previously used as overflow parking for nearby events.

The outlet mall is in the city’s sports and entertainment district near Loop 101 and Glendale Avenue.

Adam Baugh, partner at Withey Morris who is representing Tanger Outlets in the zoning case, said the parcel does not have access except through Tanger’s existing property, but does have freeway visibility, giving the outlet mall additional visibility for patrons. The outlet mall is also planning an additional digital billboard as part of the expansion.

South Tempe could become a destination for Valley pickleball players after the city approved construction to begin on a new sports-centric entertainment district.

Electric Pickle, a Top Golf-like entertainment destination centered around the game of pickleball, was approved by the city to move forward with construction during the March 22 meeting of the Tempe Development Review Commission. The lot is located on currently vacant land at

Adam Baugh, a land use attorney with Withey Morris PLC who has been assisting Electric Pickle with zoning and permits, said building will begin at 8688 S. Emerald Drive, near the Interstate-10 and Warner Road, this spring or summer. It will likely open its doors to the public a year from now.

Withey Morris is proud to once again to land in the No. 1 spot on the Phoenix Business Journal’s list of largest lobbying firms in Arizona! See the list here….

This article originally appeared in AZRE magazine.

In 2020, a study by J.D. Power ranked Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport as the best major airport in the U.S. While many travelers coming to or departing from the Valley pass through Sky Harbor, it isn’t the only runway in town.

About 30 miles to the southeast is Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, which originally was an Air Force base where more than 26,500 pilots trained over a 52-year period. Gateway Airport now offers non-stop flights to 60 cities and hosts more than 40 companies, with an annual economic impact of $1.3 billion to Arizona’s economy.

The land surrounding the airport, known as Mesa Gateway, has become a magnet for industry, with developments including the 1 million-square-foot speculative industrial building Elliot 202 and an $800 million data center by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, in the works.

According to Mesa Council Member Kevin Thompson, who represents Mesa Gateway as part of District 6, the accessibility of the area is attracting more industrial users. “Just the fact that SR 24 is coming has accelerated projects that have been looming in the background for years. Developers are seeing the nexus of everything coming together and they want to be part of that,” he says.

Between the availability of land and growing connectedness of the region, development in Mesa Gateway is thriving.

Arizona is scorching hot, and we’re not talking about the weather. Following 2020’s uncertainty, the commercial real estate (CRE) industry showed no signs of slowing down in 2021, with many commercial real estate companies reporting unprecedented amounts of business, from the number of construction projects underway to the record-breaking size of individual deals to the dollar amounts trading hands.

At the forefront of these transactions are the 50 commercial real estate companies to watch in 2022, which are highlighted below. As some of the top CRE companies in Arizona, they’ve seen tremendous growth in 2021 and will be the ones driving the industry forward in 2022.

Withey Morris

Withey Morris is Arizona’s leading land-use exclusive law firm. In addition to launching its podcast, “Dirt to Development,” a behind-the-scenes look at all the dirt on land use, politics and development in Arizona, the firm is proud of two recent keystone projects. The 3.4 million-square-foot Parkway 303 West, set on 262 acres in Glendale, features six buildings for offices, retail shopping and more. The Central Park is a 15-acre mixed-use high-rise development in Central Phoenix with approximately 760,000 square feet of office space, 170,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial/retail space, and 600 residential units.

Two gated multifamily infill projects totaling 354 units may be headed to Gilbert.

The Planning Commission last Wednesday discussed the proposed 93-unit Fred’s Place during study session and voted unanimously in the regular meeting to recommend Council approval of the 261-unit Higley Apartments.

“We’re seeing a lot of multifamily coming into town,” Commissioner David Blaser said. “I’m just curious if staff has any input, recommendation as it relates to how much land in Gilbert is dedicated to multifamily and how much more can it bear?”

He asked what was the ideal percentage and how Gilbert compared with neighboring Valley municipalities.

Planning Manager Eva Cutro said 3% of Gilbert’s total land use was zoned multifamily.

Cutro said that of all types of residential development in Gilbert, 11% is multifamily. That compares favorably with Mesa and Scottsdale, where apartments comprised 48% of all residential dwellings; Chandler, where multifamily represents 30% of all housing units and Phoenix, with 40%.

Fred’s Place

The applicant for Fred’s Place is requesting a minor general plan amendment and rezone on 14.47 acres at the northeast corner of Recker and Williams Field roads in the Cooley Station master-planned community.

Currently the land is zoned for Village Center but under the proposal, 4.95 acres would be used for a shopping center and 9.52 acres for multifamily. The site is surrounded by commercial and residential developments.

Seven years after it was chased out of Gilbert neighborhoods – twice — Springstone finally opened Gilbert’s first mental-health hospital in 2020.

Under the guidance of land-use and zoning attorney Adam Baugh, the 72-bed Copper Springs East went from being the brunt of public outcry to becoming a welcomed addition to the community.

Baugh formed a coalition, getting police and fire officials lined up behind the project and medical professionals who spoke of the need for such a facility in town, as teenage suicides were ramping up. The Planning Commission in December 2017 unanimously approved the conditional use permit for the facility.

“The way my community is formed, the way it grows, is not by accident,” said Baugh, who has lived in Gilbert since 2003. “It’s interesting and it’s deliberate and for the greater good.

We as a town benefited with having that hospital here dealing with anxiety and mental health issues.”

For Baugh, every shopping center, master-planned community and mixed-use development has a tale to tell and he and Withey Morris law partner Jason Morris are sharing them on a podcast called “Dirt to Development.” Baugh came up with the concept after years of regaling others with behind-the-scenes anecdotes of projects in the state.

This article originally appeared in the Phoenix Business Journal.

Branson, Missouri-based HCW Development is proposing a $150 million mixed-use project with multifamily, a hotel, restaurants and retail development for Goodyear.

The proposed project will be located on the northeast corner of Yuma Road and Estrella Parkway on about 27 acres just north of the Goodyear Ballpark, which houses spring training facilities for the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians.

The site is part of 180 acres the city recently approved for a general plan amendment to allow for residential and commercial space at the intersection, which was once designated as the city center.

The development, dubbed Ballpark Village Northeast, will be comprised of a retail site with mostly restaurants and boutique retail on about 7.7 acres, a four-story franchise-branded, extended stay hotel on about two acres and two gated multifamily developments on about 17.6 acres.

The multifamily projects will total 550 units — one will include a four-story luxury project and the other will be a three-story walk-up facility, according to the developer. The residential units will front the streets, while the parking is located behind the buildings.

“You create more of a pedestrian-activated environment that I think was the intent of this area long ago,” said Adam Baugh, a land use attorney and partner at Withey Morris. “We see a chance to make the streetscape more active with pedestrian movements that can walk toward the retail amenities next door.”

Firm dishes dirt on land use, development and inside arizona politics

What do you get when you combine people plus politics plus development plus drama in Arizona? You get a unique, informative and entertaining podcast called “Dirt to Development.” The podcast, co-hosted by Withey Morris partners Adam Baugh and Jason Morris, provides a behind-the-scenes look at some of the biggest developments in Arizona – along with the people, politics, developers and neighbors that make it all happen. Listeners will hear insane stories and insights from industry experts, local developers and intriguing community personalities. After years of sharing these hilarious and irreverent stories over dinners and drinks, it’s time for Arizona to hear its own story told by those who build it.

“When you think of how development occurs, there are a lot of ingredients that go into developing a building site and different components and people have to come together to pull it off,” said Baugh. “Every shopping center, every community development has a story behind it. Many people don’t realize what goes into taking a cornfield to a master-planned community or taking an old infill property to an adaptive reuse in Arizona. These are the stories we want to tell.”

Through storytelling, the podcast will deliver Information, education and amusing anecdotes covering a variety of topics including: how to work with neighbors, how to balance the role of politics in a case, strategies for land use cases, and tips and insights on how to achieve successful entitlements.

Having enough housing, and specifically affordable housing, continues to be a concern for many across the state. But Chris Waters and Adam Baugh say a different type of home construction may be part of the answer.

A few Phoenix-area cities are looking into modular homes — built in a factory and then stacked like LEGO bricks on site.

Waters is director of business development for Chandler-based Z Modular, which is working with Glendale and Avondale, among other cities. He says his firm can build roughly 100 apartment units in about two months in the factory. It then takes about six months to put them up and finish when they get to the final site.

Listen here…

How can a project be so successful that it spurs massive area redevelopment and investment and yet creates a huge neighborhood outcry at the same time? In this episode we dissect The Yard at 7th Street, a case study on land use entitlements that includes variances, use permits, abandonments, signage, zoning interpretations and more. You’ll learn why its success is a model on how infill and adaptive use projects are cheered by the city and jeered by the neighbors. Listen to find out what can be done to manage tough cases properly and how to lose friends and influence enemies with Todd Chester of WDP Partners.

We are your hosts Adam Baugh and Jason Morris, here to give you the inside scoop on some of the Valley’s best developments and some wild stories on how they came to be. But first, we want to share our story so you can get to know a little bit more about who we are and how we got into this crazy world of zoning and land use development.

This article originally appeared in AZRE magazine.

Available land and increased infrastructure are propelling industrial development in the Valley’s southeastern and western peripheries.

The past few years have seen unprecedented growth across Greater Phoenix. A favorable business environment, mild winters and an overall high quality of life have attracted corporations from across the nation and globe to the Grand Canyon State. As a result, farmland and empty plots throughout the Valley have rapidly become the sites of large manufacturing and distribution facilities.

“Industrial has been the darling of the recession and the COVID response. It’s the one use that excelled above the rest and had the most energy money and interest behind it,” says Adam Baugh, partner at Withey Morris.

Both the East and West Valley have received the lion’s share of industrial investment. According to Baugh, there’s been nearly 20 million square feet of ground broken so far in 2021. The trifecta of high demand, investor interest and available land have led to atypical behaviors in the market.

“You typically wouldn’t build until you got a user, but demand is so hot that people are willing to build on speculation. Traditionally, developers wouldn’t spend that amount of money because of the risk,” Baugh notes.

This article originally appeared in In Business magazine.

by Adam Baugh

In my line of work with real estate and land-use entitlements, it’s not uncommon to engage with upset neighbors opposed to development. Whether it’s called NIMBY-ism (Not In My Backyard) or CAVErs (Citizens Against Virtually Everything), changing the status quo can certainly elicit strong emotions and intense anti-development sentiment.

In days past, those opposing a zoning case might circulate a petition, wear matching shirts or buttons or bring signs to protest at city hall. Today’s opposition is much different and includes social media postings, digital meetups, activist websites, online trolling and harassment, e-petitions, video production and more. In a recent instance, I saw one individual create personal websites attacking local city councilmembers to shame them for a vote they had yet to take, for a case that had yet to even be filed. Essentially, it was a proverbial shot across the bow, warning that if they took such action, they would risk public ridicule, shame and scorn.

Nobody is immune to what an online vigilante might post about them or their project. There is simply no accountability for them and if their aim is to stir up opposition, it’s frankly very easy to do. Thus, in a digital world, how might one manage and respond to digital opposition to new development? Here are some tips that have worked well in other situations.

This article originally appeared in the Phoenix Business Journal.

It’s no secret the residential real estate market is hot in Phoenix.

With an influx of new businesses and executives moving to the region to get a piece of the action, the Phoenix Business Journal has created a list of 20 names to know in residential real estate.

Those new to the Valley of the Sun looking for a quick tutorial on some of the top movers and shakers in this industry can get a start here. While the list is not comprehensive, it does provide a look at some of the most active and long-standing real estate professionals in the Valley.

The list spans from the most active homebuilders to the top real estate agents.

This feature originally appeared in the Phoenix Business Journal.

When Adam Baugh, zoning attorney with Withey Morris PLC, took on a zoning case in Queen Creek for a build-to-rent community, he knew he had his work cut out for him.

Queen Creek homeowners had vehemently rejected an apartment community for that same 26-acre parcel at the northeast corner of Riggs and Ellsworth roads several years ago .

A land use market study commissioned by Queen Creek showed that the town needs to diversify its housing stock so that not all homes sit on an acre, Baugh said. Read more...

Withey Morris partner and Gilbert Chamber of Commerce board member Adam Baugh is working to make the town’s roads safer for cycling. After Adam’s friend, Evan Stubbart, was hit by a car riding his bike on Greenfield Road in Gilbert, the two decided to raise more awareness about cycling and the law which requires vehicles to give three feet of spacing to cyclists. They raised $35,000 to donate to a local non-profit (The Gilbert Parks and Recreation Foundation), and through that group, they partnered with the town of Gilbert on a bicycle safety campaign.

Watch the interview on Arizona PBS here.

This article originally appeared in the Phoenix Business Journal.

A New York-based real estate private equity fund manager and developer is investing $100 million in the Valley’s rapidly growing build-to-rent market, in which detached single-family homes are constructed in a rental community with rich amenities.

GTIS Partners LP is developing a build-to-rent community in Queen Creek, paying $7.9 million for a 26-acre parcel on April 20. Phoenix-based Sonoma Communities is co-developing that project at the northeast corner of Riggs and Ellsworth roads. Read more…

The emphasis on the campaign has been awareness and education. It started with placing the attached pictured signs in the area near Evan’s bike accident and other roads in town with the most bike accidents (Gilbert Road and Guadalupe). They used the town’s accident data and Strava heat maps to determine those locations (see attached map image). Their next step is to create a digital PSA campaign, more signage, and some green painted bike lanes. Read more…

This article originally appeared in the Phoenix Business Journal.

A 240-acre site on the west side of the Loop 202 South Mountain freeway extension is being primed for a large-scale industrial development, which the development team said will further the city of Phoenix’s goals to have a technology corridor along the region’s newest freeway.

“The introduction of the 202 has really changed the area,” said Adam Baugh, partner at Withey Morris and zoning attorney for the project, called the Dobbins Industrial and Tech Park. “This is bringing employment and nonresidential development to that area.”

Baugh’s client, Indiana-based Scannell Properties LLC, is seeking to have a mix of uses on the property, which is located west of Loop 202 and is bisected by Dobbins Road. Uses planned for the area include light industrial, office, technology, manufacturing, and other employment uses, according to city of Phoenix documents.

This article originally published in the Phoenix Business Journal.

In recent years, the town has become the place where international companies want to locate, and business and government leaders say the momentum will continue.

Over the course of three decades, the East Valley town of Gilbert went from what people then described as “nothing but jackrabbits and rattlesnakes,” to the place where international companies chose to locate and hire thousands of people.

The growth has been due in part to extensive preplanning and high standards held for the town, a panel of experts discussed at an event hosted in January by the Phoenix Business Journal.

A resort developer is testing the waters to see if Sedona could someday soon be added to its list of other destinations across the nation.

Representatives from LodgeWorks Partners were on hand virtually to give a presentation and answer questions during the Tuesday, Jan. 19, Sedona Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.

Their presentation on the former Hawkeye Red Rock RV Park was part of the commission’s first look at the proposed Uptown Community Focus Area.

This article originally appeared in the January/February 2021 issue of AZRE magazine.

CRE professionals share their must-have outdoor items.

In October, Baugh, his daughter, and some friends from the commercial real estate world did a rim-to-rim hike at the Grand Canyon, doing a hike under a full moon during the overnight portion of the excursion. Baugh said his family does it all – camping, white water rafting, riding 4×4’s and enjoys the time outdoors with regular hikes in the San Tan or Superstition Mountains or the Tonto Basin. Read more…

This article originally appeared in the Phoenix Business Journal.

In this Phoenix Business Journal guest column, Adam Baugh looks at the impact of Amazon’s continued expansion and its potential impact on the many empty big-box retail stores that sit empty across the region, if they were to be converted into warehouse facilities for the global e-commerce giant. Read more…

PHOENIX, AZ—U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers recognized Withey Morris PLC, a prominent Arizona land use and real estate law firm, in its 2021 edition of Best Law Firms. Firms receive recognition for “professional excellence with consistently impressive ratings from clients and peers,” according to U.S. News-Best Lawyers.

For the past decade, Withey Morris earned top tier recognition in the following practice areas:
● National – Land Use & Zoning Law
● Metropolitan Phoenix – Land Use & Zoning Law, Government Relations Practice, Real Estate Law

This article originally appeared in the Phoenix Business Journal.

An industrial metal supplier that caters to a variety of customers, from artists to hospitals, is growing its Phoenix footprint and plans more hiring to accommodate its growth.

Los Angeles-based Industrial Metal Supply recently completed a rezoning to construct a new Phoenix location that will total 133,000 square feet near 38th Street and Southern Avenue. The new location is about two miles from the company’s existing Valley facility.

Industrial Metal Supply currently employs about 80 people in Phoenix but plans to eventually add about 25 more in the expansion, Neil Sherman, owner and CEO of Industrial Metal Supply, said. The company has outgrown its existing space near the border of Tempe and Phoenix and was looking to grow capacity and employment.

By Adam Baugh

At the beginning of COVID, when the world suddenly halted in March, my children and I decided to build a bike shed.

It was a great time bonding with my daughters, but the end product looked nothing like the fancy shed we intended. Corners weren’t square, hinges didn’t close evenly, and several wood boards were warped. I enjoyed the family time, but at the end of the day, I really wished I had hired a professional to construct it, or at least help us build it with quality plans.

This experience reminds me of the many times I’ve been asked to rescue a zoning case from a frustrated owner/developer after they’ve tried using a “rent-a-planner” to do the work and quality of a seasoned land use attorney. While I certainly understand budget and cost efficiencies when entitling a project, like my shed experience, in most cases the client will end up spending more on the task and often obtaining inferior results. Read more...

PICACHO — Nestled in the shadow of Picacho Peak, an area recreational vehicle and manufactured home park is poised to nearly double in size with the addition of new upscale residences, larger sites and more amenities. Read more….

From “Ones To Watch” to “Lawyer of The Year,” Arizona’s Top Land Use Law and Real Estate Law Firm Bestowed With Top Honors

PHOENIX, AZ – Best Lawyers in America® 2021 recognized every land use and zoning attorney from Withey Morris PLC, a prominent Arizona land use and real estate law firm for more than 20 years. Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected lawyer ranking service in the world. William Allison, Adam Baugh, Jason Morris, Benjamin Tate and Michael Withey were among the best lawyers in land use and zoning, with Michael Withey receiving the honorable “Lawyer of the Year” recognition for this practice.

The awards recognize attorneys with the highest level of confidential peer feedback in specific practice areas and geographic region. Read more…

Adam Baugh: We’ve been quick to pivot. All public city meetings have been cancelled. Not just public hearings (Planning & Zoning, City Council, and neighbor meetings) but even ongoing, daily staff meetings where we resolve site plan and land use issues by working with staff. Face-to-face neighbor outreach is paused which makes it difficult to resolve potential concerns. The list goes on. But development must go, and we have found ways to adapt and be resilient. Virtual neighbor meetings are one method, conference calls with staff, Webex meetings with staff, online submittals, virtual inspections, virtual site tours, online plan review, and more. We’ve found ways to advance cases even when the municipal buildings are closed to the public. Read more…

Miami-based Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) is in escrow to buy one of the last remaining large parcels of land in Gilbert.

The deal to acquire 90 acres is expected to close within the next couple of weeks, said Ed Grant, executive vice president of Scottsdale Investment Management, who is selling the land to the nation’s largest homebuilder. Read more…

A planned commercial development in Gilbert is designed with nearby railroad tracks in mind and was named to pay homage to the man who built the tracks through town.

“This is a really small, weird-shaped property, and these properties get looked over time and time again,” said Adam Baugh, an attorney with Withey Morris who is representing Moulin Group, the parcel’s developer. “My client wanted to something creative and flip the script on what the retail place looks like.” Read more...

There is a phrase everybody knows: Buyer Beware. Ironically, one of the fatal mistakes a developer can make is purchasing an online zoning summary report (ZR) from a national vendor and assume that covers the breadth and depth of a site’s zoning entitlements and issues. Read more…

Nothing screams “the 1980s” like the Valley’s bygone shopping mall heyday. We go nostalgia-shopping at Chris-Town, Metro Center and other titans of ’80s retail.

It was the fashionable way to spend a Saturday afternoon for Valley kids back in the 1980s – eating bottomless bowls of whipped-cream-topped, chocolate syrup-drizzled sundaes at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour. But for then-12-year-old actor Frazier Bain, who was about to be immortalized as the bratty younger brother in the cult classic i, it was sheer torture.