SCOTTSDALE THE EVOLUTION OF

Take a drive down Scottsdale Road, the arrow-straight north/south artery that extends for 24 miles, neatly bisecting its namesake city. Once you reach the city center—where the pavement widens and decoratively-lit fan palms line your way— you traverse a dazzling cityscape, one that’s rife with brand-new, contemporary low- and mid-rise commercial buildings and condos; a posh mall; sprawling, lowslung furniture galleries; and a dizzying array of tony retail stores, restaurants, boutiques and curios shops.

It’s an eye-popping excursion, but what boggles the mind even more is to recognize that, as recently as 1957, local ranchers herded livestock down that same—albeit then unpaved—thoroughfare, their hooves kicking up clouds of desert dust that momentarily blotted out the scenery along “The West’s Most Western Town’s” main street.

The experience of that drive conjures up questions of what U.S. Army Chaplain Winfield Scott, Scottsdale’s founder in 1894, might make of his eponymous city’s strikingly rapid, 128-year transformation. It was Scott who, 10 years earlier, purchased 640 acres in the vicinity of where Scottsdale’s charming Old Town is today.

Scott reportedly thought that the Salt River Valley’s favorable climate, irrigated desert location and beautiful scenery were the right mix of attributes to settle the area. He built a ranch, gathered some livestock, planted a few olive and fruit trees, and, as they say, a city was born. Scott’s lasting influence notwithstanding, it actually was another Arizona pioneer, Albert Utley, who pushed the necessary paperwork to establish a community nearby Scott’s ranch.

In 1894, Utley made the new settlement official with the Maricopa County Recorder’s office. His plan was to subdivide the 40 acres on the northwest corner of the property into a townsite he intended to name “Orangedale.” As we now know, however, it was Chaplain Scott’s authority that prevailed.

Over the course of the city’s history, transforming Scottsdale (aka managing its growth) has been in the hands of some of the city’s most visionary planners and administrators.

Not least among them is Rob Millar, Scottsdale’s director of economic development. Millar is straightforward about his and his six-member team’s mission.

“To put it simply, my job is all about selling Scottsdale, and you couldn’t ask for a better product,” he says. Millar would know. He grew up in Scottsdale and has worked for the city for the past 32 years. He understands the “product” inside and out. “In fact,” Millar says with pride, “I’ve never lived anywhere else.”

One of the most recent focuses of Millar’s economic development agenda is to concentrate on attracting talent to Scottsdale. And by talent, he means individuals from all over the country who have the schooling, training and experience to “fit what our industries need,” he says. “It might be technology, or healthcare, or insurance…areas where we continue to grow that have certain job classifications within that industry. It’s all about encouraging these talented individuals to look at Scottsdale as a great place to live, work and play.”

There is good reason to seek out a qualified workforce. Millar says that there are roughly 20,000 businesses currently operating in Scottsdale. “We’re no longer an island unto ourselves, so to speak. We’re a part of the Phoenix metro area. That puts Scottsdale into a different category of urban planning and execution.”

Years ago, Scottsdale was not the household name around the U.S. that it is today. A few decades ago, if you mentioned the city by name to people, it often didn’t register with them.

“Right next to Phoenix” was typically the clarifying point. That’s all changed, of course. With 9 million annual visitors, Scottsdale’s magnetism as a tourist destination is off the charts. But, as Millar explains, its appeal as a better place to live and work is also gaining momentum.

“We’re appreciative for all the tourism attraction that’s been done in the city over the past 50 years, because it’s really laid the groundwork for what we’re doing now [to promote the city],” he says.

Livable

With all of its virtues now in the public eye, Scottsdale has become one of the most highly rated places to live in the U.S. The city ranked 21st on the “Niche’s 2022 Best Cities to Live in America” list, the top rating among Arizona cities. Its rankings were calculated based on grades in several areas, including crime rates, public schools, housing trends, diversity, cost of living, nightlife, outdoor activities and employment opportunities.

“People are exiting certain regions around the country for a variety of reasons, be it floods, hurricanes, snow or many others,” Millar says. “Arizona just makes a lot of sense to them. Another thing is that in spite of our growth, we’re still a relatively small community—a small city—with roughly 248,000 residents. And because of these and a lot of other advantages, we’re an attractive destination for people looking to make a long-term move.”

But growth simply for the sake of growth isn’t really what Millar’s economic development team is after. “We want growth that makes sense for our community,” he emphasizes. “To illustrate, we don’t put a sign out on the city’s borders that says, ‘Open for Business.’ Instead, we go out and search—very selectively—for the right fits, and we do that constantly.”

Millar’s current list of industry targets include healthcare, financial services, technology, insurance and one they’ve just added: logistics management. Asked to name some of Scottsdale’s top companies, he reels off a handful.

“Axon is one of our largest employers,” he says. “Exxon is located here and looking to build a new corporate headquarters. And, as far as insurance, we have The Hartford and Nationwide, both of which have a significant presence in the city. Healthcare-wise, Honor Health is the largest employer in the city. And if we turn to financial services, Vanguard is, again, one of our largest employers.

Millar continues, “Add to those CVS Caremark which has a regional headquarters up on Shea Boulevard. And, although it’s a bit smaller, GoDaddy, of course is a long-term presence here.”

Scottsdale’s polymorphism (its quality of having so many desirable aspects at once) is one of the main reasons that Peter Thomas Moosbrugger, founder and owner of Peter Thomas Designs, has settled on Scottsdale’s picturesque Old Town to relocate his expanding custom furniture design studio and showroom from its original location in central Phoenix.

Like Millar, Moosbrugger has lived in Scottsdale nearly his entire life, and no one is more attuned to the rapidly transforming face of the city than he is.

“I’ve been here since 1968,” he says. “I remember Scottsdale when it was just a sleepy little suburb of Phoenix. Every now and then I’ll drive up near the intersection of Shea [Boulevard] and Pima [Road], and recall that when I was a boy, my brother and I hunted dove on the southwest corner of that intersection. Pima was still a dirt road then!”

Moosbrugger has devoted the past 14 years to growing his business, and grow it has. “Year to year since we opened in 2008, we’ve been experiencing 35% to 45% growth,” he notes.

Peter Thomas Designs’ team of employees has grown from what essentially was a one-person operation to 17 craftspeople and support staff. “With that level of expansion, I can’t think of a better place to showcase what we do [than move to Scottsdale]. Nothing else has the right feel, in my opinion. Part of the reason we’re going to go to Scottsdale is that it already has a built-in reputation—in a sense, it prequalifies our client or potential client.”

“There’s really two reasons why I’m planning to open a showroom in Scottsdale,” Moosbrugger explains. “First, we have our own Peter Thomas Collections pieces and I need a place to showcase them. Equally as important, though, is the fact that I want a place to showcase interior designers’ original pieces.”

Having made a lot of contacts with interior designers, Moosbrugger says they’re the company’s primary source of business. “Most of the interior designers we work with happen to be located in Scottsdale, so it makes good business sense that we would want to locate our showroom there. It will give them—and us—international exposure. In the winter, people from all over the world visit Scottsdale’s Old Town.”

The point that Moosbrugger and Millar are trying to make is that, if Scottsdale has become a magnet for tourism and culture, then it also can claim all those cultural bona fides that make it a great city in which to live and work and thrive.

Millar sums it up neatly: “Scottsdale is about lifestyle. If you’re someone who likes good weather and the outdoors, and you’re seeking a highly amenitized community, then we’ll match up against any other location in the country.”

STORY BRUCE FARR