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South Scottsdale: Key Trends
- The Scottsdale City Council has stated for the past 2 years, and continues to state today, that the revitalization of the southern portion of Scottsdale is their number one priority. The Mayor, Council members, or City Manager would all be willing to speak to potential tenants about the City's commitment to this area.
- Unless otherwise noted, for purposes of this report Southern Scottsdale is defined as all areas south of Chaparral Rd. - much of the data for this area is divided into two subsections - downtown Scottsdale, and south Scottsdale.
- Since the beginning of 2003 downtown has seen a total of $1.235 billion in new private investment activity either complete, underway, or planned. South Scottsdale has seen a total of $415 million in new investment over the same time period. Therefore, over the past 2 years, southern Scottsdale has seen a grand total of $1.65 billion in new private investment. Adding in the total public investment in this area (about $353 mil.) brings the grand total of new investment in this area to over $2 billion since 2003.
- This investment has been in all sectors - residential, office/employment, retail, hotels, and cultural/institutional.
- Southern Scottsdale has seen about 2,600 new residential units built or planned since 2003. Of these, 2,166 are located in downtown Scottsdale, with an average announced sales price of over $500,000, while south Scottsdale is adding about 419 units at an average price of about $350,000. At the typical City average of 2.1 residents per unit, this would equate to the addition of over 5,400 new residents in this area.
- Major new office projects built or announced since 2003 include the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center (ultimately 4,000 jobs occupying 1.2 million sq.ft.), the Portales 2 office building (100,000 sq.ft.), and the offices at the Scottsdale Waterfront (100,000 sq.ft.).
- Major new retail projects in this area include the Scottsdale Waterfront (100,000 sq.ft.), the Hayden and Indian School shopping center (80,000 sq.ft.), and the new Bill Heard Chevrolet dealership at Pima and McDowell. View Map of Development in Fashion Square Area (pdf / 765 kb / 1 pg)
- Major new hotel projects include the James Hotel (200 rooms), the W Hotel (225 rooms), and the Valley Ho (194 rooms).
- The Scottsdale/McDowell Auto dealers (the "Motor Mile") have stabilized and are now investing in their properties - recent activity includes remodeling by United Auto Group of several dealerships, remodeling at Scottsdale Infiniti, and a new facility for Bill Heard Chevrolet.
- Home appreciation rates in southern Scottsdale are outpacing almost all of the metro Phoenix area and north Scottsdale. Average home appreciation in south Scottsdale (6.3% per year), has exceeded north Scottsdale (4.4% per year), metro Phoenix (4.0% per year), and all but 2 of the Valley's 26 housing districts according to the ASU Arizona Real Estate Center. View Analysis (pdf / 131 kb / 1 pg)
- This area of the City is seeing a significant amount of reinvestment in the existing residential base in this area. Since 2003, the City has issued a total of 3,155 building permits for residential improvements south of Chaparral. There were 302 permits relating to actual single family remodels or additions, totally $7.55 million of value (an average of about $25,000 per home). There were also 2,853 permits for minor home improvements, such as fences and air conditioning units, totaling $5.2 million (average of about $1,800 per home).
- The area's demographics are changing with the addition of the new residential and the influx of new, younger families to the area. We are seeing positive changes in terms of population growth (previously stagnant area is now seeing growth again); average household income is growing (now up to $56,700); the median age has dropped from 41.5 in the year 2000 to an estimated 38.0 today, etc.
- The public sector is making very significant investments into this area in a variety of public infrastructure projects. The City of Scottsdale is investing $273 million in capital projects, including street improvements, water/sewer lines, parks/libraries, public safety, and community amenities. The Scottsdale Unified School District
is making an additional $80 million in improvements to support this area, including an entire rebuild of Coronado High School. Therefore, the total public sector investment in this area totals nearly $353 million. - The school system is also showing improvements across the board in terms of educational indicators, such as test scores. Already considered one of the top school districts in the state, SUSD has more "excelling" schools (based on state standards) than any other district in the state.
- Scottsdale has a lower crime rate than other major communities in the Valley - Scottsdale's 2004 crime rate of 42.3 crimes per 1,000 population was far lower than adjacent communities (Phoenix was 73.6, Mesa was 58.0, and Tempe was 87.4). The south Scottsdale area (District 1) showed continued improvement, with a 5% decrease in the number of police calls from 2003 to 2004. The vast majority of District 1 calls are from downtown Scottsdale (primarily related to the "entertainment" district), with only few calls coming from the McDowell corridor.
- The City's "Citizen and Neighborhood Resources" Department has focused a targeted neighborhood revitalization program in this area since 2003 - this program has included such things as building permit fee reductions, a housing rehabilitation program, alley clean-ups, enhanced code enforcement, new landscaping, etc.
- Other misc. items include details about the McDowell and Scottsdale Road streetscapes, a comparison of the 2001 Downtown Task Force recommendations to what has actually occurred, site plans for the S.F. Giants improved spring training facilities, a General Plan land use map for the Scottsdale/McDowell area, a listing of major real estate transactions in this area over the past few years, a graphic showing major development activity in the Fashion Square Mall area, and some additional information on the area.
It is also important to remember that this area is surrounded by other communities - Phoenix, the Salt River Indian Community, and in particular Tempe. The City of Tempe has also made a concerted effort over the past decade on the Mill Avenue/Rio Salado/ASU area - with an estimated $1 billion in new investment occurring in this area as well.
