Airpark at heart of Scottsdale's redevelopment

Scottsdale's Airpark business district is on the cusp of redevelopment, leaving city officials to resolve how to manage growth while preserving neighborhoods and views and decide whether to promote it as a night-life destination.

"We are on the front edge of a reinvestment cycle for the airpark," said city economic vitality director Harold Stewart.

The airpark is one of the top three employment centers in the Valley - downtown Phoenix and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport being the other two. Stewart said airpark businesses employ about 50,000 people, with up to 10,000 more expected in next five to 10 years.

"It's hard to measure its value. It's a big economic engine. It drives a lot of activity," he said.

City officials are working on a Greater Airpark Community Area Plan based on input from residents and businesses that will govern the district's growth. The airpark plan is one of six neighborhood plans that will be incorporated into the city's general plan update in 2011.

The others, moving south to north, include south Scottsdale; downtown; Shea Boulevard corridor, between Indian Bend Road and Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard; McDowell Vista, from Frank Lloyd Wright to Jomax Road; and Tonto Foothills, from Jomax to the city's northern boundary.

The plans govern such things as land use, traffic circulation, utilities and infrastructure, and how the area redevelops.

"It sets goals and polices for how the greater airpark should develop over the next 20 years," said John Lusardi, Scottsdale's long-range planning director.

DEMAND FOR NIGHT LIFE

Planning for airpark growth gained momentum in May, when the city held workshops involving residents, businesses and property owners to determine what they believe are major issues to be dealt with in the future.

Among the themes was a desire to create an "around-the-clock" scene in the district by encouraging a diverse mix of businesses - including restaurants, stores and recreation opportunities - to attract more night life.

"We heard that fairly strongly," Lusardi said.

Rick Kidder, president and chief executive officer of the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce, said it's important to supply amenities for people working in the airpark, but he doesn't believe the district should evolve so heavily in the direction of a night-life destination that it ceases to be a business park.

"I think allowing it can be a very positive thing, but they're going to have to find a way to keep it from being 'I'm schizophrenic, and so am I,' " Kidder said.

The business mix is moving toward high-tech, software and business services companies, he said.

Stewart said the airpark is in transition. The district generally attracts businesses with 50 to 100 employees, and lately has seen growth in the number of biotech businesses, he said.

"We're seeing a trend there," he said. "It's going to continue to move away from light industrial/office/warehouse kind of space and continue to move into the retail side," Stewart said.

The residential market is expected to grow in the airpark as well. Such projects likely would involve housing units above offices or stores, he said.

"Scottsdale Road would probably be the primary area where that type of mixed use could go," he said. In May, city officials began the search for a consulting firm to conduct an inventory of airpark businesses. The study will determine the types of businesses there; how big they are; where they are located; the size, zoning and age of each building and the dates of major renovation projects exceeding $500,000.

The information will help the city better attract the types of businesses that are common in the airpark, officials have said.

Residents and businesses also have supported creating an identity for the airpark through such things as establishing "gateways" into the district.

"It should be obvious when a person is in the greater Airpark area and when they are not," according to the city's summary report of recent public workshops on the community plan.

ROADS AND NEIGHBORHOODS

Relieving traffic congestion also made the list of priorities. Scottsdale's transportation master plan, adopted in January, envisions creating a "ring road" to move traffic more effectively around the Scottsdale Airport, at the heart of the airpark, said Teresa Huish, principal transportation planner.

The concept could involve adding a frontage road along a portion of Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard, improving Paradise Lane intersections and Northsight Boulevard, widening Redfield Road to four lanes, and widening portions of Hayden Road and Raintree Drive to six lanes.

The road projects are not listed in the city's five-year capital improvement plan. The city would have to find the funding before they could proceed, Huish said.

Kidder said express bus routes like the one between Chandler and the airpark, slated to begin on Monday, and another route between Surprise and the airpark, which began last July, could help take many commuting workers off local roads.

Susan Tierney, Valley Metro bus system spokeswoman, said it's too early to tell how successful the Surprise route has been.

"Bus routes take several years before we can determine if it's a viable route," she said.

People living in residential neighborhoods mainly south of the airpark have asked the city to ensure that their neighborhoods aren't affected by the business district's redevelopment. Lusardi said proposals call for transitions between residential and commercial areas, using building setbacks, landscaping and stepped-back building heights.

A previous plan to punch Thunderbird Road through from Scottsdale Road to Loop 101 last year met stiff resistance from homeowners who were concerned the road would become a major east-west traffic corridor that would severely affect the quiet neighborhood on the south side of Thunderbird.

Today Thunderbird dead-ends into Scottsdale Road on the Phoenix side, picks up again as a lightly traveled two-lane road after a short gap and cuts off again at 87th Street without reaching Loop 101. The proposal called for widening the road to four lanes with a possible off-ramp at Thunderbird from Loop 101.

The city dropped the plan after opponents claimed the road extension would bring unwanted noise and increased traffic to the neighborhood, harm property values and present a safety hazard, particularly for children who frequent Northsight Park.

TALLER BUILDINGS VS. VIEWS

Another priority for future airpark growth involves preserving views of the McDowell Mountains.

Tension could arise, however, between the desire to maintain those views and pressure from the business community to allow buildings taller than the current height limit of 36 feet.

Lusardi said city officials are working on a three-dimensional imaging model to see how taller buildings might affect views and airport operations.

"That is so preliminary. It's something we're still exploring," he said.

Kidder said in some cases it might not make financial sense to redevelop in the airpark unless developers can build bigger.

"The cost of assembling properties is so high. There is a real challenge in getting a project to pencil out," he said. "They're going to need additional height."

Views of the mountains could still be protected, however, through the inclusion of open space and view corridors in future redevelopment plans, he said.

Stewart said airpark redevelopment will be guided in part by how high developers are allowed to build.

Other issues identified at city workshops include having more open space and parks, encouraging the use of environmentally friendly building practices and landscaping, and preserving aviation-related businesses. City officials hope to develop a draft version of the airpark plan by the end of the year after holding several more public meetings in the fall.

A final version of the plan could go before the City Council for adoption in spring 2009.