Chandler is gaining on traditional upscale E.V. locales

Real estate agent Yalda Alawi has heard Chandler called the “Scottsdale of the South” for years.

And it’s that reputation that steered her and her husband to settle there four years ago, after moving to Arizona from the Washington, D.C., area for a change of scenery. “I guess I heard it more when I was being told to move here,” she said.

But she didn’t hear it just from fellow real estate agents; she heard it from other moms, friends and business people she knew.

The word is spreading. When it comes to wealth, affluence and the comforts that come with it, Chandler is gaining on the traditional luxury communities such as Scottsdale and Ahwatukee Foothills.

Before Chandler’s high-tech boom of the mid-’80s, the city’s median household income was just under $18,000 a year — quite a bit below Scottsdale’s nearly $28,000 mark at the time. But as companies such as Motorola and Intel moved in, that gap began to shrink. By 1990, Chandler’s median income had increased to $37,855, less than $1,000 below Scottsdale’s $39,182. Today, census data estimates both cities at around $68,000.

More and more, people with incomes and tastes traditionally associated with swankier parts of the Valley are choosing to live in Chandler.

Their six- and seven-figure incomes give them the freedom to live just about anywhere they want. But many are skipping what they call the hoitytoity atmosphere of Scottsdale for the family oriented feel of Chandler. They’re moving to high-end subdivisions such as Ocotillo, Circle G at Riggs, and Vasaro, Alawi said.

“For us, it’s an up-and-coming area,” said Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin, who moved into a south Chandler home from Ahwatukee Foothills two years ago. “In looking for housing, we all felt you could get more for your money in Chandler.”

Boldin is one of several Cardinal players who have moved to Chandler in recent years. They say the city offers the shopping and dining amenities they want while being close their team’s Tempe headquarters and training facility.

“If you want to shop, go to the movies, get a bite to eat at a nice restaurant, you have everything you want in the Chandler area,” Boldin said.

Chandler’s affluence began to grow in the early ’80s, when high-tech companies — especially Intel — settled in the former bedroom community. With the companies came highly educated employees to fill their high-paying jobs.

Now with its firm grip on the microchip market, Chandler has made a controversial jump into the biotech industry by welcoming global drug tester Covance to build a 500,000-square-foot laboratory facility in the city’s airpark. The company conducts laboratory testing for many drug, food and chemical manufacturers.

City officials have repeatedly said the company is Chandler’s welcome mat for other firms developing and producing biotechnology and nanotechnology. City and Covance representatives predict the new facility, scheduled to open in the next two years, will bring other firms that need to outsource laboratory testing. And with those labs will come even more educated residents.

Already, educators from Chandler-Gilbert Community College are working with Covance scientists to develop programs geared toward degrees in biotechnology fields. “The higher the educational level, the more people have choice,” said Chandler economic development director Richard Mulligan.

When city officials talk about the Chandler Airpark, they often point to Scottsdale’s version as an example of where they want to go. Scottsdale Airpark, with its nearly 110 companies, is responsible for nearly 50,000 jobs — the thirdlargest job center in the Valley. Chandler officials predict companies based in their airpark will eventually produce around 20,000 jobs.

“I don’t think of it in terms of aspiring to be like another community,” Mulligan said. “You just try to be what you are.”

And in Chandler’s case, that’s being a younger, welleducated city that’s looking to attract more of the same, according to the city’s strategy for buildout.

Along with a median income that rivals Scottsdale’s, those jobs often allow workers the freedom to choose more freely where they live. “And they are very choosy,” Mulligan said.

And the high-end retailers and restaurateurs are choosing to follow that money.

Dianne Everson, with her daughters Nicole Gould and Tonia Tinker, opened Uptown Bridal in Chandler’s historic downtown district in February. To them, the name of the boutique says it all.

“The naming of Uptown is high-end, upscale,” Tinker said. “There’s money on this side of town, and we get a lot of it.”

They wanted a historic building for their boutique and found a former corner drugstore on Arizona Avenue perfect for their needs. Now brides come to them from not just Chandler to purchase gowns that cost as much as $3,000.

“We’ve been pulling a lot of brides from Scottsdale too,” Tinker said. In fact, she said, some clients seem to be coming to avoid Scottsdale.

Now the shop is working with other neighboring businesses to share customers. If a bride-to-be and her mother can’t decide on a dress, Tinker points them to a couple of nearby restaurants to have lunch and make up their minds.

“It’s very similar to downtown Scottsdale down here,” Tinker said.

Diana Givey used to shop all the time at Scottsdale Fashion Square. But these days, the Tempe resident finds what she’s looking for at Chandler Fashion Center. One of her favorite shops is Electric Ladyland, a trendy, high-end boutique shop with locations in Scottsdale, the Biltmore area of Phoenix and now Chandler.

“It’s the type of style I like,” she said. “And we don’t have to drive all the way up to Scottsdale.”

Chandler Fashion Center was never meant to compete with Scottsdale’s Fashion Square, which caters to a much more luxury market. But executives with mall owner Westcor can see why the comparison is made.

“It certainly makes sense when you look at the tenant mix at Chandler,” Westcor vice president Garrett Newland said. “The term ‘fashion center’ really made sense with those anchors and the other retailers that came along.”