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project called “The Greenway Hayden Loop Sewer Improvements” is a potential game changer in North Scottsdale.
The city signed – and then last month amended – a development reimbursem*nt agreement with Optima, giving the reasoning as “opening this area for current and future development.”
Only Optima has received final approvals – and is actively building.
The massive sewer line begins at the in-process Optima McDowell Mountain apartments/condos at Scottsdale Road and the Loop 101, then snakes its way through what city officials imagine will be a gold mine of developments.
Continuing at the current end of Mayo Boulevard, the line is to shoot east, through rugged, undeveloped desert land.
At Miller Road, which is planned to extend to (and perhaps under) the Loop 101, one section of the sewer will extend north, the other south to the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort.
Following the curving Princess Drive, the south end of the sewer line will make a hard right at Hayden Road before trenching its way through the TPC Scottsdale Championship Course just north of Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard.
The potential developments the sewer line could serve: Optima McDowell Mountain Apartments; ASM; Banner Health; a Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort expansion; and an Axon new headquarters and apartments.
Resort expansion
According to its application, the Fairmont Princess Resort seeks “approval of a zoning district map amendment” to facilitate an “increase in the number of hotel guest rooms” on the luxurious, 66-acre property.
According to an application filed in the spring of 2023, then revised twice later last year, “the Resort plans to enhance and expand the existing conference facilities and provide a new conference building,” with a sprawling ballroom and 10 meeting rooms “that will bracket wrapping the new Event Lawn area.”
The plan will also add another hotel wing with 155 rooms, underground parking and “a new Michael Mina high-end Italian themed restaurant.”
In February, the Planning Commission unanimously approved the resort’s request.
Next step: Scottsdale City Council, tentatively scheduled for July 2.
The resort’s contribution to the $68 million sewer line that will extend to its luxurious gates has yet to be announced.
Tech giant
ASM, previously known as Advanced Semiconductor Materials, is a powerhouse global company with revenue topping $2.5 billion in 2023.
Six months ago, ASM unveiled plans for a $300 million research U.S. headquarters in North Scottsdale, bringing some 1,300 workers to 21 acres between Scottsdale and Hayden roads.
While Mayor David Ortega was rolling out the red carpet in public, alarm bells were going off behind the scenes about ASM’s potential for massive water use.
Brian Biesemeyer, the executive director of Scottsdale Water, expressed concerns over ASM’s plans to recycle 80% of its wastewater.
Paul Crothers, ASM’s vice president of operations, told Biesemeyer ASM would use 30 to 55 million gallons or water per year – projecting the company would hit its 80% water reuse goal.
“The bottom line is that ASM will need to bring 460 acre-ft of water,” Biesemeyer responded. ASM would be required to bring to the project water for nearly 1,500 homes.
While ASM has not formally updated its development proposal since March – when it first submitted it to the city – it likely was the subject of a closed-door meeting three weeks ago.
Scottsdale City Council held an executive session June 4. One of the agenda items showed the mayor and council members getting legal advice “regarding contracts that are the subject of negotiations.
“These matters both pertain to the development of real property bounded by the Loop 101 freeway on the north, Mayo Boulevard on the south, Hayden Road on the east and 73rd Street on the west,” the agenda item says.
“ASM plans to bring the latest developments and innovative processes to the region’s growing technology sector,” according to the company’s March 1 design review application.
ASM’s property “is bounded by future extension of Miller Road on the east and future extension of Mayo Boulevard on the south with the SR Loop 101 freeway to the north,” according to the application.
Another section references ASM’s plans to design “the streetscape along future Mayo Boulevard and 76th Street/Miller Road” – in other words, right along Biesemeyer’s $68 million sewer line.
ASM’s sewage use is not mentioned in the design application.
That, as well as ASM’s contribution to Scottsdale’s new sewer system, likely would be covered in a development agreement.
Considering ASM’s plan lists its location at the currently nonexistent intersection of “Miller Road and Mayo Boulevard,” road construction also likely will be covered in a required agreement, which could – similarly to Optima’s and other city agreements – contain developer reimbursem*nts.
Any development agreement would have to be approved by City Council.
At a “date to be determined,” the Scottsdale Development Review Board will examine ASM’s submission.
Coincidentally or not, ASM submitted its plan for three buildings – a three-story office building, two-story lab and five-story parking garage with 1,200 spaces – right around the time Biesemeyer was preparing his first request to inject millions into the sewer project.
Banner up
Just to the east of ASM, Banner Health has submitted two design plans.
The first is “for a new 119,000 square foot medical office building” on 11 acres “west of the northwest corner of Hayden Road and Mayo Boulevard.”
The second Banner submission is a “development plan … for a new medical campus including full-service hospital with helipad, on a 48-acre site located at 18400 N. Hayden Road.”
Planning Commission, Development Review Board and City Council meetings on these plans have yet to be scheduled.
As is the case with its neighbors ASM and the Fairmont Princess Resort, any negotiations regarding Banner’s contribution to the $68 million sewer line have been held in private, with no public announcements.
“We expect that final submittals will be coming soon for Banner and ASM,” Biesemeyer told the Progress.
Axon on pause
Of all the multi-million dollar development plans in this area, by far the most extravagant – and controversial – comes from Axon.
Founded by Scottsdale native Rick Smith, the Taser maker has become an international giant, with sales topping $1.5 billion.
Smith is known as an out-of-the-box thinker.
Axon has a “moonshot goal” to cut gun-related deaths between police and the public by 50% in 10 years.
Meanwhile, demands in recent years to hold police more accountable have fueled Axon’s body cameras, purchased and used by law enforcement agencies around the world.
Riding a wave of sales and innovations, Axon last year attempted to “go big” in Scottsdale: Rather than just expanding its nearby office on land it purchased from the state, ASM announced a stunning plan to build a hotel – and four apartment buildings, totaling 2,000 units.
The ambitious plan requires rezoning of the land Axon purchased from the state – and Scottsdale’s Airport and Planning commissions have questioned, critiqued and generally hammered the Axon plan.
After personally presenting his plans and being publicly rebutted, an apparently stung Smith hinted to investors he would move to Seattle or Atlanta if Scottsdale rejects his plans.
There has been no action on Axon since Smith’s company asked for an indefinite continuance of its Planning Commission application in February.
