Moving from Vegas to Phoenix..need advice (Scottsdale, Paradise Valley: apartment complex, to rent)

[liquidpolicenaut]

My GF is getting a transfer to a new office in Scottsdale so we will both moving there pretty soon. I was just looking to see what are some great areas to live in. Are there any areas that have nice apts/condos to rent but are within walking distance to a good amount of things? (grocery stores, restaurants, shopping, bus routes, parks, etc.) For right now, we were looking at apts. in North Scottsdale...any opinions on that area?

Any advice/opinons would be greatly appreciated!

[AzDreamer]

There have been a few threads recently on walkable neighborhoods with lots of good suggestions. Find the "Search this Forum" link and look for "walkable", that should find most of the good threads on this.

[ivanabacowboy]

Mapquest Kierland Commons. Draw a line straight north to the 101. Take that line west to Desert Ridge (Tatum exit off the 101). Take it south down Tatum to Greenway. Take it east at Greenway until you are back at Kierland. Anyplace in this box would be nice. Parts of this area are Scottsdale, parts are Phoenix, parts are really Phoenix but called Scottsdale, and parts are Scottsdale but called Phoenix lol! Of course there are plenty of nice places outside this little box as well.

I live between Kierland and the 101. I have tons of stuff in walking distance or just a couple minute car ride-stores, restaurants, auto dealers, grocery stores, movie theater, resorts, spas, a hospital and golf courses lol!

Some apartments: Shade at Desert Ridge, Desert Club, Legends/Paragon or Traditions at Kierland.
Some condos: Toscana (right across the street from CityNorth), Kierland (midrise that is muy expensive and some condo-over-retail options), CityNorth (not cheap either).
Also: I know there are both apartments and condos that recently opened or are still under construction in this area but I dont recall their names. Look for the construction cranes. ;-)

Another area you may like would be basically in the area surrounding the intersection of Shea Blvd and Scottsdale Rd.

And there is always the canal waterfront by Camelback and Scottsdale Rd. Optima Camelview are some absolutely gorgeous condos in this area-and as an added bonus, you can walk to Fashion Square Mall.

PS "CityNorth" doesn't have much of anything there yet other than some shops and a couple restaurants, and a ton of overpriced unrented/unsold condos and apartments. CityNorth is directly adjacent (I mean directly) to Desert Ridge. Sort of as Desert Ridge's little stepsister lol! If you are going to spend the kind of money it would cost at CityNorth, opt for Kierland instead-both are nice but Kierland would be more bang for your (big lol!) buck as the rest of CityNorth is fairly well backburnered for the time being for numerous reasons, and it hasn't exactly gone over as well as they thought it would. (Which my personal vote all the litigation aside over the parking garage and tax incentive, CityNorth would have stood a far far far better chance had they opened the entire thing at once when the major department stores were ready to come online. Just my humble opinion.) The Toscana condos were there before CityNorth.

PPS MDW, I am not sure it is apropriate to publicly post someone's contact information.

[azdr0710]

ivana makes lots of good points....

don't know what your budget is, but all areas ivana mentions will not be cheap...the cheapest area ivana mentions will be along Tatum as it's farthest from the trendy Scottsdale stuff (though the areas east of Tatum get to use a Scotts mailing address even though they are in Phx city limits, so you'll pay for that privilege)....

I second the recommendation for the Scottsdale Rd and Shea area....very busy neighborhood, but has almost all you'd need to live out your life (except a Costco!)....explore all directions within a half-mile of Scotts and Shea - lots to choose from....condos and condo conversions around 70th and Mt View/Gold Dust are a decent buy right now, but check the comps!...

N Scottsdale is considered the priciest area right now after the Town of Paradise Valley, but it's a very big region and there is some variety...as ivana said, the areas west of Scottsdale Rd and N of Cactus are in city of Phoenix, though it feels like Scotts and you get to use that Scotts mailing address to impress your friends!

personal opinion: CityNorth and the other new stuff N of the 101 are, I think, a bad location, relatively.....you'd have to get in your car for almost anything and I think they'll be stalled as developments for a few more years....just a bit too far N for me....Scotts and Shea area is an in-town location and really just a great, convenient spot to be.....not cheap, though, but not outrageous, either....

also, the Tatum/Shea/Cactus area is, to me, very close to perfect....Costco (coming soon), WalMart, Whole Foods, other grocery stores, Trader Joe's, a big mall, a fantastic golf course/long walking path along the Indian Bend Wash, Sprouts, In N Out, banks, lots more - and all in a very convenient in-town location....very busy and crowded, though, and watch out for those self-important trophy wives!!!!....again, areas here east of Tatum get the Scotts mailing address though in city of Phoenix

[ivanabacowboy]

azdr0710: I don't know how I left the areas down Tatum/Shea off the list. There are some nice condos down there. And I would suspect apartments too.

I live near Princess/Mayo and the 101 right across from the other Whole Foods, by the other Trader Joe's (tho interesting on Shea they put TJ's RIGHT IN FRONT OF Whole Foods. I suspect that peeved Whole Foods off lol!). I can walk to tons of stuff. I joked when I first moved out here that I could go to a different restaurant for dinner every evening on foot-and not need to go to the same restaurant twice for probably.....years lol! I could do just fine for an extended time even if I didnt have a car-I can walk to just about anything I would possibly need or want. It is so relaxing to get up on a Saturday, walk over to Whole Foods and pickup groceries. Decide later to go out to dinner and walk to the restaurant. Then while eating, decide to take in a movie-and walk to the movie theater.

One of these days if I get bored I will actually count. Being from Vegas, walking at 110' should be old hat for liquidpolicenaut!

You asked about bus service. Be forewarned: the entire valley transit system is nowhere near as developed as where I came from originally (Cleveland lol!). Tho that said, if you live ON a main road (and all of the roads we have identified here are main roads), you have excellent bus access because the busses run all the main roads. I can walk right out of my apartment complex and catch a bus and connect to any one of at least a half dozen or more bus routes depending which direction I was going. The difficulty is if where you are going is a sidestreet some distance from a main road because at least from what I have seen in this part of town, the busses really dont do side streets. Tho that said, maybe it does make sense, because most of the main streets are laid out on a grid-evenly 1 mile apart. So for the most part, you wouldn't be walking more than 1 mile I suppose. Or you may end up with a few connections if trying to get from one route to a route 3 over that don't directly connect. Maybe someone who actually uses public transit out here would have more input on this stuff.