Corina Vanek
Corina Vanek traces how real estate projects, redevelopment and corporate expansion reshape growth patterns, and she reports on those changes for The Arizona Republic with a focus on development and real estate deals.
Major projects and growth corridors
Her core work follows large, high-impact projects and investment decisions, from new headquarters plans to major retail and mixed-use upgrades. She has covered proposals such as Axon’s controversial $1.3 billion headquarters plan, tracking the timeline of council hearings and the stakes for surrounding neighborhoods and city infrastructure. She reports on major reinvestment in existing hubs, including Vestar’s planned $100 million improvements to Scottsdale Quarter, detailing how capital spending, tenant mix and design changes signal a new phase for a key commercial center. When The Arizona Republic and azcentral relocated to Park Central, she framed the move as part of a broader wave of redevelopment at the long-standing commercial complex, connecting a newsroom decision to the larger evolution of that property.
Her development beat extends across emerging innovation and growth areas. She has chronicled efforts to build out the Peoria Innovation Core, explaining how long-planned initiatives and recent decisions could catalyze development across a large footprint. Earlier work examined how the East Valley town of Gilbert transformed over decades, using that history to show how zoning, investment and community identity interact over the long term. She has also covered logistics and industrial projects such as an Amazon delivery station planned for a 38-acre site in Surprise, emphasizing how new facilities knit into existing road networks and what they mean for surrounding land use. Across these stories, she consistently focuses on where projects sit within the region’s growth map, how much money and land they involve, and which public bodies will decide their future.
Adaptive reuse and neighborhood redevelopment
Vanek often zooms in on smaller sites whose reuse signals broader changes to key corridors and older neighborhoods. Her coverage of a former Camelback corridor sports bar becoming a law office shows how individual parcels on a well-known commercial strip cycle through different uses, and how professional services and nightlife each shape the character of that area. She has written about a nearly century-old former church in downtown Phoenix being prepared for its next chapter as an event venue and eventual home for small businesses, highlighting the balance between historic preservation, contemporary design and small-business opportunity in a landmark building.
These stories focus on what happens when existing structures are reimagined rather than replaced, and they often include detail on zoning decisions, design changes and the kinds of tenants expected to move in. By pairing architectural and planning information with concrete examples of future use — law firms, event operators, small retailers — she gives a clear picture of how adaptive reuse affects street-level activity and the longer-term feel of an area.
Commercial real estate and economic development
Vanek brings deep commercial real estate experience to her current development beat. Before joining The Arizona Republic, she covered commercial real estate and the economy, with a focus on markets including Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Maricopa County and statewide activity. In that work she reported on zoning strategies in opportunity zones, explaining how cities adopt proactive approaches to encourage development and investment, and how those moves interact with federal incentives and private capital. She has tracked the long-term growth of suburban communities like Gilbert, using population trends, business expansion and land-use changes to show how small towns become major economic centers.
Her business reporting has also examined how corporate logistics and contract decisions affect workers and local economies. For example, she has written about truck drivers and mechanics at a Kroger distribution center facing job losses after a contract change, framing the story around union concerns and the limited job prospects in the wake of that shift. That kind of coverage mirrors her approach to development: real estate deals and corporate moves are grounded in their consequences for employment, traffic, services and the broader economic landscape, rather than treated as isolated transactions.
Beat approach and formats
On the development beat, Vanek’s coverage consistently combines deal specifics — dollar figures, square footage, timelines and key players — with clear explanations of public process. Stories about headquarters proposals, major upgrades and new facilities walk readers through planning and zoning steps, council debates and neighborhood reactions, making it easier to understand how and when a project might move forward. She frequently notes which boards or councils will hear a proposal and on what date, signaling both the political path and points of community input.
Her work ranges from straight news on new projects to more narrative features that explore the character of redeveloped sites or historic buildings, and she occasionally appears in audio and digital formats to explain “big projects” coming to the metro area. Social and multimedia pieces credited to her show she contributes reporting and photography to visual stories as well, reinforcing a beat built on being physically present at construction sites and redevelopment projects. Across formats, the through-line is a practical, map-based view of growth: she focuses on where projects are, what they cost, who is building them and how they alter the fabric of surrounding corridors, giving real estate and development stories concrete context for people following the region’s economic and physical expansion.
4 more real estate journalists.
Aaron Moselle
Aaron Moselle covers housing and community development for WHYY’s PlanPhilly, filing for radio and the web. He stands out for connecting market data and government action to displacement, affordable homes, and the daily questions facing renters and homeowners. His core beat is housing affordability and market strain, including high mortgage rates, rising prices, tax assessments, and what they mean for buyers, sellers, and renters. He also reports on preserving and creating affordable housing, neighborhood rehab efforts, major real estate deals, and the effect of property sales on residents. His work often uses direct sourcing, plain language, and service journalism to make policy and finance clear.
Abbey Ferguson
Abbey Ferguson stands out for reporting how major commercial moves and redevelopment plans reshape the built environment, especially the real estate deals that reveal what land and retail space are worth. She covers Central Texas commercial real estate and development for KWTX, with recent stories on land valuation, major transactions, retail redevelopment, and infrastructure planning. Her work has tracked an $80 million data center site offer in Hill County, a prospective Trader Joe’s location in Waco, and a planning project using artificial intelligence to predict traffic patterns. She writes as a news reporter, staying close to the numbers, public records, brokers, officials, and landowners. Her stories turn contract prices, appraisal data, and listing history into plain explanations of what buyers are betting on and how those deals affect surrounding property owners and nearby businesses.
Alcynna Lloyd
Alcynna Lloyd reports on how housing markets shape people’s lives, focusing on the real decisions and trade-offs behind buying, renting, and moving home. She is a real estate reporter at Business Insider, where she writes about homebuying behavior, tiny homes, and multi-generational housing as part of the economy team’s coverage of real estate and the rental market. Her core beat is the consumer side of housing, with an emphasis on affordability and how market conditions affect ordinary buyers and renters. She writes analytical service pieces that compare different markets and track moves, migrations, and life changes tied to housing. Her stories combine economic context, market data, and detailed personal narratives, and she also covers startups and rising real estate talent to show how industry decisions affect everyday housing choices.
Aldo Svaldi
Aldo Svaldi treats residential real estate as a window into the Colorado economy, explaining how housing trends reflect jobs, income, business activity and public policy. He is a long-tenured business reporter who covers the Colorado economy, economic development and residential real estate. His beat centers on mortgage costs, construction pipelines, buyer behavior and banking, with a focus on housing pressures and affordability. He reports on segments such as entry-level, move-up and higher-end homes, showing how financing costs, supply constraints and demand shifts affect each. His work is data-forward, using economic indicators, reports and forecasts to track cycles, turning points and structural issues. He scrutinizes research findings and pairs expert analysis with interviews and on-the-ground observations to show how policy, corporate moves and financial decisions shape housing demand, prices and development patterns.