☀️ Happy Tuesday, friends!

The East Valley just got a serious entertainment upgrade, and it's not the only big swing happening around the Valley this week.

The Bongiorno family (yes, the Potato Barn Bongiornos) is breaking ground on a brand new concert hall in Mesa built entirely from the ground up, something Arizona hasn't seen in decades. Meanwhile Buckeye is about to host a massive solar land auction, and a long-stalled hockey arena near TSMC is finally close to opening its doors.

Let's jump in.

👀 This Week at a Glance

🎤 The Bongiorno family is building The Nox, a 2,000-person concert hall in Southeast Mesa.

☀️ Apex Clean Energy wants to lease nearly 3,900 acres near Buckeye for a $740 million solar plant.

🏒 Fire 'N Ice Arena's $190 million sports complex near TSMC is targeting an Aug. 15 opening.

📰 The Recap

Big private money is flowing into Arizona again this week, and a lot of it is landing close to home. Mesa is getting its first ground-up concert hall in a generation, Buckeye is drawing serious solar investment, and a North Phoenix hockey arena that stalled out years ago is finally weeks from opening.

There's good news for anyone tired of driving into Phoenix for a decent dinner too. San Tan Valley just landed a new retail center with restaurants and a medical building on the way. On a bigger scale, Phoenix is expected to open more new hotels this year than New York or Dallas, one more sign the Valley's growth story isn't slowing down.

Check current mortgage rates
_{Mortgage rates vary based on individual qualifications, including credit score, loan type, and lender policies. For a personalized rate estimate, it’s best to consult with a lender.}

News & Developments

🎤 The Nox Is Coming to Mesa

The Bongiorno family, the same family behind Potato Barn, is building a two-level concert hall called The Nox near Ray and Sossaman in Southeast Mesa. It's a fully private investment, no city or state incentives involved, and it's the first ground-up concert hall built in Arizona in "many, many years," according to the developer. The venue will hold up to 2,000 people, with three full bars per floor, a VIP balcony section, and its own video production studio for commercials and film work. Groundbreaking is expected this fall with an opening targeted for early 2028.

📍 Southeast Mesa

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☀️ Buckeye's Next Big Solar Bet

A Virginia-based clean energy company wants to lease nearly 3,900 acres of state land near Buckeye for a massive solar plant. Apex Clean Energy applied for a 30-year lease on the site, located south of Interstate 10, to build a 350-megawatt solar farm with battery storage. The land goes up for auction on Aug. 18 with a starting bid above $43 million, and the full build-out is expected to run around $740 million. If everything gets approved, Apex is aiming to have the project running by 2028.

📍 Buckeye

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🏒 Fire 'N Ice Arena Nears Opening

A $190 million sports complex near TSMC that stalled out years ago is finally close to opening. Fire 'N Ice Arena will include two NHL-style rinks, a 2,500-seat arena, an attached hotel, and an on-site sports academy for grades 9 through 12. The complex will also launch Arizona's first junior hockey team this August. Opening is tentatively set for Aug. 15, with a hard deadline of Sept. 1.

📍 North Phoenix

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Food & Entertainment

🍝 San Tan Valley Is Getting Some Restaurants

A new 24-acre retail center is coming to San Tan Valley at Ironwood and Ranch roads, aimed squarely at an area the developer calls "underserved." The project includes about 25,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space plus a 50,000-square-foot medical building anchored by OrthoArizona. Confirmed tenants so far include a sit-down Italian restaurant and a Honey Baked Ham Company, with a few pad sites still open. Construction should start by the end of the year, with completion expected near the end of 2027.

📍 San Tan Valley

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📊 Real Estate Trends

Local Market Update

Mortgage rates just hit an 11-month high after renewed tension in the Middle East pushed oil prices and bond yields back up. Cromford flagged this same pattern back in May, when rates briefly dipped below 6% right before things escalated, then snapped right back to levels not seen since July 2025. Locally, our four core markets are telling very different stories. Mesa (CMI 117.5) and Gilbert (CMI 106.2) are still leaning toward sellers, even though both cooled slightly this month. Queen Creek (CMI 50.3) and Buckeye (CMI 55.0) remain solid buyer's markets, giving buyers in those areas real room to negotiate. Across Greater Phoenix, buyers are closing in about 48 days and negotiating down to roughly 97% of list price on average, with more than half of sellers covering some closing costs.

National Trends

Nationally, the picture looks similar. Zillow expects the 30-year rate to ease only gradually, drifting toward 6.4% by year's end, still higher than what buyers saw last fall and winter. Rising gas prices are squeezing budgets too, making it harder for everyday buyers to save for a down payment. But it depends heavily on who's buying. In Greater Phoenix, June sales over $800K jumped 23% while sales under $800K rose just 4%, and large detached homes over 5,000 square feet are up 18% since 2024 even after adjusting for inflation. Smaller, more affordable homes, especially twin-home style properties in the West Valley, are actually down nearly 14% in real terms over the same period. Arizona is still in a stronger spot than most of the country thanks to continued business investment, but sellers shouldn't price a home as if rate cuts are guaranteed.

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Check current mortgage rates
_{Mortgage rates vary based on individual qualifications, including credit score, loan type, and lender policies. For a personalized rate estimate, it’s best to consult with a lender.}

🌵See You Next Week in the Desert

Thanks for spending a few minutes with us.

We'll be back next week with the biggest stories shaping Arizona, the latest real estate trends, and the local updates you need to know.

– Brad