Paradise valley mall/Trader Joe's area (Phoenix, Scottsdale: lower-class, for sale, condos)

[Meandering]

Hi again!

We are looking for a walkable-ish area to relocate from DC.

Can anyone give me feedback on this area? Any traffic, dust, air pollution (over and above the usual), or water issues?

Any suggestions on a good place to stay for a week ($$-$$$) while we explore this area?

About us-Married, 40's, health care professionals, native californians.
In DC for 10 years and can't take it any longer, but they are right when they say you can't go home again.

[AZJ0SH]

That's not really a walkable area, and it's a bit on the lower-class end. The traffic is VERY HIGH in this area, especially along Tatum and Cactus.

The only real walkable areas near Phoenix are Old Town Scottsdale, Tempe, and some of Downtown.

[observer53]

It's not the most walkable area, and there is a lot of traffic at Tatum and Cactus, but I would not say that it is "a bit on the lower class end" at all. The neighborhoods just to the west and north of there are nice, albeit somewhat older, neighborhoods. There's a mix of grass lawns and desert ones, so except when a big duststorm rolls through with dust picked up somewhere else, it's not a particularly dusty area. You'll dust your furniture more anywhere here in the Valley than in some other places in the US.

[Meandering]

Thanks for your input.

What areas of downtown would you suggest? We were looking in upper central on our last visit. How is cityscape doing?

My husband votes for Scottsdale, but we really haven't looked around there much yet. We wandered into that bar that has dollar bills stapled all over it and stayed there a bit longer than we had planned.

[AZ Tracy]

Originally Posted by Meandering

Any suggestions on a good place to stay for a week ($$-$$$) while we explore this area?

You may want to try www.vrbo.com (http://www.vrbo.com - broken link) - Bella Terra, Tuscany Villas, Aderra and Anasazi are the names of some of the condo's in that area.

[Kimballette]

Paradise Valley Mall and Trader Joe's are approximately two miles apart. The area between them is a very nice, very safe area. In no way is it "lower class" or shabby. However, it is not what I'd consider walkable.

[azriverfan.]

I wouldn't say the area is lower class but yes it has taken a hit in the last decade and some stores and restaurants in that area has closed down. 10 years ago, that was a sought after community and considered upscale but like Ponderosa has said, with the advent of newer communities, these older areas take a hit. In this case, when Desert Ridge/Aviano and North Scottsdale developed, these areas suffered a bit. I like the area but I would look elsewhere. A trendy nice area is Midtown Phoenix. I really Arcadia/Biltmore area. North Scottdale is nice and there are many new subdivisions and master planned communities being built there and prices on homes are dropping due to oversupply of homes for sale in the Scottsdale area; you can get a really good deal there right now. If you want to live in the north, I would probably do Scottsdale as well. Well I take that back, I forget you are looking for walkable so year, North Scottsdale is out too because it's fairly remote with great scenery but hardly walkable. I would probably look into Arcadia.

[azdr0710]

I actually think the PV Mall/Tatum/Cactus/Shea area is excellent....definitely not "low class" as suggested at all, though I can see how some of the 70s-era tract homes in some of this area can lead to that impression....stay E of 40th St and you're fine....wide range of housing prices.....$40K condos to $1M+ homes

I used to live in the area and felt it was fantastic....every store you could possibly want is in the area: Costco, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, other conventional groceries, Sprouts, Best Buy, Walmart, an entire mall, tons of restaurants, the whole bit....all in a very convenient location within the metro area....and there's the Indian Bend greenbelt walkways, hotel(s), a golf course....

very hard to find truly walkable areas in Phx due to low density, a symptom of land being historically cheap and plentiful....

[dbrooks411]

I agree PV is a beautiful area plenty of shopping nearby. Lowlifes as one said can't afford to live there.

[cacto]

You can walk anywhere you want to in Phoenix, but the whole city was designed for the automobile not the pedestrian.