Scottsdale Forum Meet Photos

[Azndragon837]

Hi Friends,

Four of us actually showed up at the most recent forum meet in Scottsdale today. We had lunch at the yummy Food Bar at the new Southbridge Development in Downtown Scottsdale. We were short on time, so Steve & Andrew left while Ryan and I stayed behind and took photos. Ryan had to go, so I spent the rest of the day snapping some photos of Downtown Scottsdale & Downtown Phoenix on the way home.

ENJOY!

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Steve, Me (Andrew), Andrew & Ryan at the Food Bar

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The Scottsdale Waterfront & the Arizona Canal (it was very brown that day)

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The Mix Shops & the high-end restaurant, the Estate House

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Scottsdale's tallest building: the 13-story Waterfront Towers

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Looking up inside "The Doors," an art piece by Donald Lipski at the SWC of Scottsdale & Camelback Roads.

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"The Doors" Link to Art Sculpture Information (http://www.scottsdalepublicart.org/LipskiTheDoors.php)

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The Scottsdale Waterfront's Camelback Road frontage

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Pink Taco!

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The largest mall in the Southwest: Scottsdale Fashion Square

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The Waterfront Towers. This view makes this place look urban and dense!

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Pedestrians along the Waterfront's Marshall Way frontage

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Marshall Way & the Waterfront

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Shade & Shoppers

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A cool bench near the Marshall Way Pedestrian Bridge over the Arizona Canal

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Southbridge's 4th building with a new restaurant coming soon

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Water features & public open space along Stetson Drive

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Camelback Mountain in the distance

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The Canal Restaurant

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The Mix Shops along Stetson Drive

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Where we ate: The Food Bar (Digestif is the restaurant next door, offices on the upper levels)

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Looking down Stetson Drive. Southbridge has 4 buildings split-up into 4 distinct architectural designs to break up the street wall. They did a fairly good job.

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On the way to Downtown Phoenix (just myself), I stopped along the side of McDowell Road near Papago Park and snapped a photo of Tempe's rising skyline. The 30-story Centerpoint Condominiums is actually taller than A Mountain!

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The Downtown Phoenix skyline facing west on McDowell Road

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I stopped by the parking garage on the north side of the I-10 Freeway on 7th Street (it's a medical building) and took a few photos of Downtown Phoenix's rising skyline.

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This photo (at night) was taken from the same vantage point when I went up to the garage in February of 2006. You can see the difference!

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Close-up. You can see the ugly Sheraton (which does fill the skyline), Alta Phoenix (just below the Sheraton), the Central Park East crane, 44 Monroe, and the ASU buildings going up.

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The Tempe Skyline, St. Luke's Hospital, and the Sky Harbor Airport Control Tower

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Midtown Phoenix Skyline


I hope you enjoyed the photos! Downtown Scottsdale is not that bad and does a good job planning the pedestrian environment. Let's all meet in Downtown Phoenix next month for our next forum meet. :cheers:

-Andrew

[Buckeye Native 001]

Very cool, and it was great meeting you all :tup:

I just spent the last three hours at Showcase Honda after the meet, and I think I'm on the verge of buying a new car...

[loftlovr]

Andrew-
Awesome awesome pics!
Seems like you guys had fun!
I am sooo sad I couldn't make it-
Ended up having to show condos half the day....
I was gonna razzle you guys and get you in to Waterfront Camelview and Safari Drive.
Maybe next Scottsdale forum meet!

Anyways- you're quite the photographer with some of those shots....
Great composition- especially the flowers and Waterfront in background.

JC

[FireMedic]

nice pictures :)

[andrewkfromaz]

We missed you Joel! I was hoping to get in to some of those buildings and look around. Did you make any sales? We'll have to make sure we can do it again sometime soon.

[Don B.]

Sorry I couldn't make it, but making money has to take priority, especially in my fragile financial state.

Shields weakening, Captain.

I like the photos.

--don

[Azndragon837]

^I hope things will go on an upswing soon for you and Alex. See you later this weekend for the hike.

-Andrew

[ChrisLA]

Nice tour, I love the desert landscape around the Phoenix metro. The skyline of Phoenix could be taller of course, but it does not look at bad as some like to complain about.

[JAHOPL]

Thanks for the photos, Andrew.

My wife and I walked around the Scottsdale waterfront area on Friday, her first time there, and she had no idea the new buildings were going up. She moved to Scottsdale in 1963, and needless to say, Scottsdale was quite different then. We sat near the fountains for a few minutes which are visible in your photo of Waterfront Towers. She wished the canal water was a little bluer and a little less brown. We remember Scottsdale Fashion Square as an open-aired shopping location with many fewer stores.

I also liked your downtown Phoenix shot above the parking garage with the active and curving freeway ramps in the foreground. Makes us look more like a big town.

[pablosan]

Great thread, thanks. Scottsdale is pretty cool.

[tempedude]

Very nice shots of trendy Scottsdale. I like how Scottsdale is making use of the canal for the Waterfront development. I haven't been there yet, but I definitely need to go check it out.

LOL...I know...I live in Tempe, but I rarely go to downtown Scottsdale.

[Azndragon837]

Thanks for the photos, Andrew.

My wife and I walked around the Scottsdale waterfront area on Friday, her first time there, and she had no idea the new buildings were going up. She moved to Scottsdale in 1963, and needless to say, Scottsdale was quite different then. We sat near the fountains for a few minutes which are visible in your photo of Waterfront Towers. She wished the canal water was a little bluer and a little less brown. We remember Scottsdale Fashion Square as an open-aired shopping location with many fewer stores.

I also liked your downtown Phoenix shot above the parking garage with the active and curving freeway ramps in the foreground. Makes us look more like a big town.

Thanks for the comments. Other than the brown waters of the canal, that part of Scottsdale has developed into a destination (I believe) that invokes pedestrian activity. The fountains are nice, and there is a lot of shade. I also like the connectivity from Southbridge into Scottsdale Fashion Square.

I remember people talking about how SFS used to be an open mall. The mall still has that open-feeling because the skylights in the mall open up on nice days such as the one we encountered during the meet.

Downtown Phoenix's skyline is slowly growing. It has been an awesome past couple of years for Phoenix, and the next few years will be as exciting!

Tempe Dude...you need to come up to Scottsdale more often! :-)

-Andrew

[loftlovr]

Andrew- maybe (we will see if offer gets accepted)....
I promise to make it up to you guys next time!!

[NIXPHX77]

it was nice meeting you Andrew, Andrew and Ryan. i had a good time,
and i enjoyed Foodbar. wish i could have spent more time.
thanks for arranging this Andragon and for the great photos.
i look forward to the next one, wherever.