Scottsdale Road on the grow

Cranes are sprouting like weeds above Scottsdale Road both north and south of Loop 101, thanks to the fertile economic conditions caused by the intersection of two major transit corridors.

Large office buildings, retail shops and restaurants are racing to fill up patches of vacant land.

Rick Kidder, president of the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce, said that over the next 10 years, the commercial construction boom on Scottsdale Road will merge with the Scottsdale Airpark business district to become the largest business center in the state.

“It’s the beginning of what’s going to be a trend,” Kidder said. “On both sides of Scottsdale Road I think you’re going to see some significant development.”

He called the real estate market in the area “incredibly healthy.”

“That’s going to end up being the office, business and retail hub of the north part of the Valley,” he said.

To handle the area’s growth, Scottsdale transportation director Mary O’Connor said plans call for widening Scottsdale Road to six lanes with a landscaped median, turn lanes, bike lanes and sidewalks by fall 2008.

Work is slated to begin Monday to improve the road between Loop 101 and Thompson Peak Parkway. The entire road widening project, all told, is budgeted at more than $20 million, O’Connor said.

One of the major projects currently under construction is the Chauncey Ranch specialty retail shopping center, on the southwest corner of Scottsdale Road and Mayo Boulevard. Joe Doucette, a leasing agent for Corritore Co., which is involved in the 170,000-square-foot project set to open this fall, said population growth in the area and the proximity to the freeway are nurturing development.

“Demographics are the driving reason. There’s just a lot of people and a lot of money up there, and access off Loop 101,” Doucette said. “It takes a couple of years to do a project. The saying in the real estate industry is that retail follows rooftops.”

Among the expected tenants at Chauncey Ranch are the Whole Foods grocery market, which will anchor the project, and a Gordon Biersch brewery restaurant, he said.

Just across the road, on the southeast corner of Scottsdale Road and Loop 101, Lund Cadillac Hummer Saab broke ground on a new 20-acre dealership April 30, said Chuck Dimmic, marketing director. The dealership is slated to move in about a year from its current 5-acre site at 7901 E. Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd.

The location at the freeway entrance and the synergy of other businesses going up nearby, especially heavyweights like One Scottsdale and Palisene, made the move attractive, Dimmic said.

Palisene is a 2,200-acre Westcor master-planned community centered on a 72-acre mixed-use development on the northwest corner of Loop 101 and Scottsdale Road. With a projected opening in 2009 or 2010, the commercial portion is expected to include more than 1 million square feet of retail space.

Directly across Scottsdale Road from Palisene, work is already under way on Dial Corp.’s new headquarters at One Scottsdale. The 120-acre, $1.5 billion commercial and residential project also is expected to include more than 1 million square feet of commercial, retail and office space, 400 resort and hotel rooms, and 1,100 residential units, including penthouses and urban estate homes.

Other major developments are in the upscale Kierland residential and commercial area west of Scottsdale Road and south of Frank Lloyd Wright. The Plaza Lofts at Kierland Commons, a 54-unit, nine-story residential tower near Greenway Parkway and Scottsdale Road, is already under way. It’s projected to be done this fall.

Two large office buildings also are under construction nearby. The 175,000-squarefoot, five-story SGA Corporate Center at Kierland is slated to open in June, while the 257,000-square-foot, six-story Max at Kierland office building is slated for December.

And once Dial moves out of its current offices at 15101 N. Scottsdale Road, it’s expected to be replaced by Scottsdale Crossing, a more than 1.2 million-square-foot development.

The 28.6-acre project is expected to include residences, restaurants, a park, shops, offices, two parking structures, a boutique hotel and a movie theater that serves meals during films. The buildings are expected to rise four stories.