Tim Lawless, president of NAIOP-AZ, tells GlobeSt.com, "We were thrilled to honor Kurt Rosene for his many years of service to our trade association, our industry and the community. He is the 15th recipient of our top annual award. One reason we changed the descriptive title of the award from Lifetime Achievement to our Award of Excellence is because we know leaders like Kurt are going to be active for many more years to come in our industry. We are also pleased that we have expanded our awards over the years to reflect the growth and activity in particular markets and industry niches. For example, we added a Healthcare Broker of the Year category this year and we received numerous nominations given the increasing number of healthcare construction projects. A few years ago, we added an award for best LEED Certified Project of the Year. Speaking of nominations, we received a record number of 92 this year across all categories. We hope this is a clear indicator that our general market is on the upswing and we will accelerate the number of high wage jobs being brought to our state."

The Freeport-McMoRan condo acquisition won the Talk of the Town Award. In November 2014, American Realty Capital Properties purchased the class A office condominium under lease by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold. Negotiations included working with the city of Phoenix. The selling price was $110 million.

The event, organized by NAIOP Arizona, was attended by more than 900 commercial real estate professionals.