What is South Scottsdale?

South Scottsdale is the southernmost and oldest portion of Scottsdale, Arizona, encompassing roughly 14 square miles south of Indian Bend Road. It is bounded to the west by the cities of Phoenix and Tempe, and sits just minutes from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Arizona State University, and the Loop 101 and Loop 202 freeways.

Unlike the manicured resort communities of North Scottsdale or the exclusive gated enclaves of Paradise Valley, South Scottsdale has always been the most accessible, most connected, and most diverse part of the city. It is simultaneously the entry point to Scottsdale living and one of the hottest redevelopment markets in the entire Valley. A place where buyers gut-renovate 1960s ranch homes and where investors build modern infill townhomes on corner lots that sat untouched for decades.

The City of Scottsdale formally adopted the Southern Scottsdale Character Area Plan in October 2010, recognizing the area as a priority for neighborhood revitalization, sustainable housing, and economic vitality. A signal that civic investment in South Scottsdale’s future is both official policy and ongoing reality.

The History of South Scottsdale, Arizona

The story of South Scottsdale is inseparable from the story of Scottsdale itself. In 1885, the completion of the Arizona Canal, constructed by developer W.J. Murphy opened the Salt River Valley to large-scale agriculture, drawing homesteaders and speculators to what would become Scottsdale’s founding land.

In 1888, U.S. Army Chaplain Winfield Scott and his wife Helen purchased 640 acres for just $2.50 per acre in the area now bounded by Indian School, Scottsdale, Chaparral, and Hayden Roads — the precise heart of what is today Old Town and South Scottsdale. Scott became the town’s namesake and its earliest civic champion, helping attract settlers and commerce. By 1892, the oldest still-occupied residential structure in Scottsdale, the Titus House, now on the National Register of Historic Places was built in this area.

By 1896, the Scottsdale Unified School District was established, followed in 1897 by the city’s first business: J.L. Davis’s General Store and Post Office at what is now Brown Avenue and Main Street. In 1909, Scottsdale’s first artist colony formed here, cementing the area’s early identity as an arts and culture hub, a reputation Old Town still proudly carries.

The town was formally incorporated in 1951, and the postwar boom transformed South Scottsdale rapidly. The 1950s through 1970s brought wave after wave of ranch-style residential construction. Single-story, block-built homes with covered patios, screen block walls, and private pools. More than 300 of these homes are now listed on the National Historic Register, recognized for their architectural significance within the midcentury Southwest tradition.

In the 1960s, the Indian Bend Wash, a natural floodplain bisecting the city was transformed from a flood hazard into an 11-mile linear greenbelt park system, one of the most celebrated flood-control-to-recreation conversions in American urban planning history. Meanwhile, the former McCormick Arabian horse ranch, purchased in 1940 by Fowler and Anne McCormick was sold in 1970 and master-planned into what became one of the Valley’s first and most successful large-scale residential communities.

In the 2000s, South Scottsdale continued evolving: the SkySong ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center opened in 2008 on the former Los Arcos mall site, attracting the R&D arms of international corporations and anchoring the area’s identity as an innovation corridor. Today, South Scottsdale is in the midst of its most significant transformation since the postwar era. A wave of redevelopment, infill construction, and dining/retail investment that is reshaping the area block by block.

South Scottsdale Neighborhoods Guide

South Scottsdale is not a single community. it’s a mosaic of distinct neighborhoods, each with its own identity, price point, and buyer profile. Here are the key areas within and adjacent to the South Scottsdale boundary:

Why People Choose South Scottsdale

South Scottsdale: Frequently Asked Questions