Colliers International in Arizona has released its Greater Scottsdale Airpark 2030 Report, which highlights market conditions and predictions for the popular Scottsdale Airpark submarket. The area is experiencing more mixed-use development, as well as significant renovation and redevelopment of its valuable property.
“The Scottsdale Airpark still has some runway left in this post-recession cycle,” says Jim Keeley, SIOR, CCIM, founding partner of the Scottsdale Office of Colliers International in Arizona. “The development community has demonstrated restraint during the past 10 years, avoiding an overbuilt situation during this strong cycle. Much of the investment dollars in this submarket have been applied to refurbishing, re-purposing and tearing down obsolete buildings for future development.”
Some of these renovated and re-purposed projects include YAM Circle, a new 17,800-square-foot shopping center at the corner of Hayden Road and Northsight Boulevard. This replaces the torn down former Harley-Davidson of Scottsdale site that was vacated when Harley-Davidson built the world’s largest dealership across the street in 2015. Texas-based At Home purchased and is redeveloping the former Sam’s Club on the east side of the Scottsdale Airport. Adjacent to this new At Home store will be a re-purposed 13.1-acre site. This former Whole Foods & Sports Chalet site will soon be home to a mixture of apartments, self-storage, retail and restaurants.
Keeley points out in the report that mixed-use developments have become a focal point of commercial real estate throughout the nation. The success of Kierland and the Scottsdale Quarter has been impressive. People are interested in destinations that draw residents, tenants, visitors and patrons to a pedestrian-friendly community where you can “live, work & play.”
“The Greater Scottsdale Airpark in general has been one large mixed-use development, with the addition of a large number of apartments and condominiums,” says Keeley. “The Scottsdale Airport and its new, $27 million Aviation Business Center make this submarket one of the best business districts in the Southwest United States.”
Scottsdale Airpark attracted some big deals in the last year. Nationwide Insurance Company purchased 134 acres at Loop 101/Hayden Road to build a 950,000-square-foot, mixed-use project. The first phase will include 460,000 square feet of regional headquarters, restaurants and a hotel. During the fourth quarter of 2018, Airobotics, a dynamic Israeli drone company, opened its US headquarters on Raintree Boulevard. Finally, Scottsdale-based Ammo Incorporated has continued its nationwide expansion within the sporting industry. The company has turned its focus to the defence munitions sector with the acquisition of SW Kenetics.
Keeley predicts that 2019 will bring ground-breaking of one or two additional mixed-use projects in the Greater Scottsdale Airpark. Properties will be sold on the investment market as current owners work to capitalize on the strong, current cycle. He forecasts higher occupancy in all building sectors and rising rental rates.
The report, which was started in 1981 and named the 2010 Report, has been a fixture in commercial real estate reporting for the Greater Scottsdale Airpark. In that base year of 1981, the submarket had 3,320 employees, 1,580,000 square feet of buildings and 268 companies. Today, the Airpark has approximately 59,132 employees, 43,887,549 square feet of space and approximately 3,233 companies. As Keeley looks forward, he envisions the year 2030 will offer a Scottsdale Airpark that employs 82,000 people in 53 million square feet of office, flex, industrial, medical, retail, multi-family, hotels and car dealership properties. By that date, he estimates the area will be home to 4,100 companies.
