
Editor’s Note: This is China, not Scottsdale (yet)
Scottsdale is a city that prides itself on being refined, on being a leader in luxury. It has culturally led the way in the state by consistently holding high standards and not bending them. The result has been a city that is a national leader in tourism and a destination within the state.
Recently however, Scottsdale has been redefining its reputation, and hardly in the best way. How?
It appears as though Axon’s gigantic apartment mega-complex plans would be a record-setting nearly 1,900 units. As such it would be the single biggest apartment entitlement by number of units in the history of Arizona!
Perhaps the most disturbing thing however is that it appears as though Scottsdale would not only have the #1 spot, but also the #2 spot. The highly controversial Optima McDowell Mountain Village, approved by the current iteration of city council with both the mayor and several outgoing councilmembers voting in favor, will eventually come in at a very distant second place with 1,300 units. Axon’s plans have nearly 50% more units, obliterating the previous record!
If being the state’s leader in large apartment complexes isn’t bad enough on its own, consider this: the third spot according to my research goes to Vaseo Apartments at 7th St and Greenway in Phoenix with 1,222 units. But right after that? Del Mar Terrance in Maryvale, checking in at 1,012 units.
Yes, Maryvale. This is the company that Scottsdale apparently wants to keep by being a market leader in hyper-dense apartment complexes. Maryvale.
Perhaps Scottsdale’s new slogan should be “Apartment City”.
When we consider why voters soundly rejected the trajectory that the mayor and council have taken us over the past few years, you don’t need to look much further. While the politicians would freely talk about preserving the “unique character” of Scottsdale, their actions directly conflicted with that. Indeed, Councilwoman Betty Janik campaigned in 2020 against the Entrada apartment project on McDowell Road, only to later approve an apartment complex nearly three times the size.
Scottsdale is an Arizona leader in a lot of different ways, but by numbers of enormous apartment complexes, holding down the top two spots is not exactly something Experience Scottsdale will be touting in future tourism campaigns, nor will the traffic or the problems they bring.