This article appeared in Business Journal Luxury Living Winter, 2007

City lifestyles, luxury projects luring buyers

By James Kindle

A new crop of urban living options has sprouted in the Valley since last fall. The next few pages showcase some of these properties, the people choosing urban lifestyles and the various amentities these homes have to offer.

The drive from North Scottsdale's Troon community to Scottsdale Fashion Square mall—or any of Old Town's destinations—is not a quick one.

You can head south on Alma School Parkway, hang right at Happy Valley Road, get on Pima Road for about four miles until it meets up with the 101, go south for another nine miles, and then get off at Chaparral Road and head into the city.

On a good day, it'll probably take about 25 minutes. With bad traffic, prepare for 45 minutes or more.

Now, Brook Martz—who traded in her parents' home in Troon to purchase, with her fiancé Sean O'Connor, a condominium in Scottsdale's Optima Camelview residence—can get on her bike, travel a few feet down Scottsdale Road, and be in the heart of Old Town.

"(In my old house). I never went past Thompson Peak (Parkway) to do anything because it was too far to drive. But on the weekends, when we had more time, we'd go south and do everything we wanted," says Martz, 24, who works in promotional products marketing at the Scottsdale-bases Martz Agency. "So now that we live here, it's kind of like we're on vacation."

Martz and O'Connor, 25, a professional hockey player who used to play for the Milwaukee Admirals, moved into their condo in mid-August. Martz says Optima Camelview's location was the primary motivator for their purchase.

"(We thought) why don't we, while we're young, go somewhere that we can ride our bikes?" Martz says, "If we want to go to the bar, we can ride our bikes—if we want to go to the mall, if we want to go to restaurants. It's just very convenient to live here."

Optima Camelview's location, greenery and amenities attracted Brooke Martz and her husband, Sean O'Connor, who used to live in a single-family home in North Scottsdale.

Martz says she also was drawn to the development's unique green patios, featured on all units. The patios are part of Optima Camelview's design incorporating long cantilevers and overhangs amid lots of open space. They are intended to encourage growing plants on all balconies.

"It's kind of an oasis with all the green because don't really see that in Scottsdale," she says.

This greenery, along with the property's planned dog park and putting green, also eased the transition to a home without a yard and made life easier for the condo's third resident: Tina, a 2-year-old Yorkie-Maltese.

"It's like having a yard without the upkeep and maintenance of the yard," Martz says. "Tina just has the run of all this."

The cozy, 780-square-foot condo also provides just the right amount of space for the couple, Martz says.

"We were looking for houses, actually, and every house we'd go into...there was so much wasted space," she says. "So by doing this, we have everything we need. We don't need anything else."

Though the couple may not need much more than what's contained in the apartment, the development does include a number of amenities, including a sports complex with basketball and racquetball courts, recreation room, indoor swimming pool and two indoor hot tubs, as well as outdoor pools currently under construction.

Having just moved in, the couple is in the midst of redesign, or at least Martz is. O'Connor's only design specification was satisfied when the couple purchased matching plasma TVs for the living room and bedroom, she says.

Brooke Martz and Sean O'Connor

Occupation: Brook: Promotional products marketer for Martz-Agency; Sean: Professional ice hockey player

Property: Optima Camelview

City: Scottsdale

Square feet: 780 (plus 188-square-foot balcony)

Bedrooms: 1

Bathrooms: 1

Cool amenities: Balconies with view of Camelback Mountain, stainless steel kitchen appliances, black granite kitchen countertops, floor-to-ceiling glass south wall, marble fixtures in bathroom