Scottsdale City Center Moves Ahead In Old Town

Big plans. Big corner. A long runway. Scottsdale City Center cleared another hurdle in late 2025, pushing a long-planned project closer to dirt work near the heart of Old Town. The vote landed quietly. No speakers. No fireworks. Just a unanimous board decision that keeps momentum rolling at one of the most watched intersections in "The Valley".

Quick Points

• 14-story mixed-use project approved Dec. 11, 2025

• Located at Scottsdale Road & Camelback Road

• Part of the Scottsdale Collection plan

• Features housing, retail, & public plaza

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A Corner With History Gets A New Chapter

This site sits right on the edge of Old Town. You know it. Heavy foot traffic. Late nights. Constant churn. City Center takes up about three acres and slots into the larger Scottsdale Collection vision tied to the Yari brothers. That parent plan barely passed City Council back in 2020, pulling a 4–3 vote after a tense debate about height and fit. Fast forward. Two current councilmembers still don’t love the scale. Yet zoning rules have shifted since then, tightening bonus height rules and pushing more open space. This project moved through the Development Review Board without pushback. That alone tells you something.

• Scottsdale Road & Camelback Road location

• Edge of Old Town footprint

• Linked to Scottsdale Collection approval

• Quiet board vote

The politics haven’t vanished. They’ve just cooled. For now.

How The Buildings Stack & Flow

The layout does some visual juggling. Four buildings ring a central plaza, with mass pushed inward and lower profiles at the streets. That’s intentional. Street edges stay pedestrian friendly, while height rises away from Scottsdale Road and Camelback Road. Two buildings stay low at two stories. The other two climb to 14 floors near the middle of the site. Retail anchors the base. Homes start higher up. It’s a familiar mixed-use play, but tuned for a sensitive corner.

• Four total buildings

• Two reach 14 stories

• Lower street-facing structures

• Retail below, homes above

The goal is simple. Keep the sidewalks active. Keep the skyline pullback subtle.

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Homes, Shops, & Daily Activity

City Center brings housing into a district known more for nightlife than neighbors. The plan calls for 138 residential units, split between apartments or condos. Below them, about 35,000 square feet of commercial space fills the lower floors. The first four levels focus on retail and food spots, lining the plaza and streets with doors, patios, and shade. Residents don’t hit their front doors until floor five. That separation matters in Old Town.

• 138 residential units

• Commercial on lower floors

• Homes start above retail

• Plaza-facing storefronts

This mix nudges Old Town closer to a live-work rhythm. Slowly.

Parking, Circulation, & The Canal Twist

Parking often kills projects like this. Here, it’s tucked away. A six-level garage handles the load, with two levels underground and four above. The structure hides behind units and amenity space, keeping blank walls off the street. Then there’s the canal. It cuts diagonally through the site, shaping how people move across the plaza. Designers leaned into it, threading paths and sightlines around that angle instead of fighting it.

• Six-level parking garage

• Below-grade parking included

• Garage screened from streets

• Canal shapes walk paths

It’s a constraint turned into a layout driver. Smart move.

The Plaza Takes Center Stage

At the heart sits an open-air plaza. This isn’t leftover space. It’s the organizing element. Turf patches break up hardscape. Seating clusters face storefronts. Public art fills visual gaps. Shade comes from canopies, overhangs, and deep eaves, a must in "The Valley". The plaza ties into nearby sidewalks, pulling people across the site instead of around it. That’s the pitch, anyway.

• Central open-air plaza

• Turf & seating areas

• Public art planned

• Heavy shade coverage

If it works, this space becomes the project’s calling card.

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Building Green Without Flash

Sustainability here stays practical. The project follows Scottsdale’s International Green Construction Code, with a focus on water use and heat control. Landscaping relies on drought-tolerant plantings. Windows use high-performance glazing. Storefronts sit under shade structures. Residential areas include recycling and refuse systems baked into operations. The site itself was underused, which checks another box city planners like to see.

• Water-wise landscaping

• High-performance windows

• Shaded storefronts

• Redeveloped infill site

No gimmicks. Just compliance and restraint.

Old Town Keeps Getting Taller

City Center won’t stand alone. It joins a cluster of nearby towers that already reshaped this stretch of Scottsdale Road. The W Hotel rises seven stories nearby. The Remi Hotel now hits 12. Waterfront Towers climbed to 13 floors years ago. City Center fits into that context, even as some leaders worry about Old Town’s scale slipping away. Since 2020, the city has tightened zoning rules, dialing back height bonuses and asking for more open space and pedestrian connections.

• Near W Hotel & Remi Hotel

• Close to Waterfront Towers

• Part of Entertainment District shift

• Built under older zoning rules

Change is already here. This project just adds another layer.

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