A suburban area with an urban feel, this north Phoenix neighborhood has a wide range of homes and jobs. The area’s popular shopping center is like a downtown for the community. A high-end resort, golf course and easy freeway access make this neighborhood popular with residents and big employers including Mayo Hospital.
The Loop 101 and State Route 51 bisect this area. Desert Ridge has easy freeway access to Scottsdale, the West Valley and downtown Phoenix.
Desert Ridge West has many new neighborhoods and large employers including American Express. A large sports complex and musical museum can also be found here. Two freeways bisect this area.
Desert Ridge East is home to a J.W. Marriott resort and the popular Desert Ridge Marketplace shopping center. Mayo Hospital and the Scottsdale 101 mixed-used development are on the southern end of this area.
Home prices are higher in the Desert Ridge East and West parts of this neighborhood because more new houses are going up. There is also vacant land available for many new neighborhoods in this area.
Paradise Village’s older houses are drawing investors. Houses are being renovated and resold for a profit or turned into rentals. Foreclosure soared in this area during the crash but have fallen back to low levels.
Home sales are pretty steady in this neighborhood that continues to draw both buyers and renters. People are drawn here for its central Phoenix location, freeways, shopping and many jobs nearby.
Expect an urban feel in a suburban setting in this north Phoenix neighborhood. You will find plenty of jobs and shopping here. New homes are going up on the northern end of this area. Neighborhoods with houses built in the 1980s are on the southern end. There are plenty of apartments for renters. The easy freeway access draws many resident and companies. This is one of Phoenix’s big growth areas and more development is planned.
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The Reach 11 Recreation Area, with trails for hiking, running, horseback riding and biking, can be found in Desert Ridge. The rec site regularly hosts events for trail races and cyclocross bicycle races. The Phoenix Mountains Preserve, with a vast trail system, is about a mile south of the area. Piestewa Peak, a difficult but popular hike, is on the southern edge of the preserve. The Phoenix Sonoran Desert Preserve is just to the northwest of the area, with more mountain biking, hiking and running options.
Residents of the Desert Ridge area are relatively young and better educated. They tend to rent more than most. Houses tend to be older and incomes are lower in the Paradise Village neighborhood (85032). Incomes are higher in Desert Ridge West (85050), but houses are newer in Desert Ridge East (85054).
Phoenix is the nation’s sixth biggest city and it’s population is still growing faster than many other U.S. cities. The city was named in the mid-1800s by settlers who compared their new home to the mythical bird that burned and rose from the ashes.
National Geographic ranked Phoenix as one of America’s 15 best hiking cities. The city has a vast network of desert preserves and hiking trails, including iconic summits like Camelback Mountain and Piestewa Peak. You’ll find trail maps and descriptions online.
Phoenix has received various awards for good governance and has the highest credit rating of the nation’s six largest cities. But the city has struggled to get its fiscal problems in order since the Great Recession. City Council members regularly have coffee meetings open to all residents.
Phoenix’s General Plan focuses heavily on infill development along the light-rail corridor. Light rail will continue to be one of Phoenix’s key redevelopment tools, with city leaders hoping to triple its miles of track by 2050.
The Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Opera and Ballet Arizona all perform in the city’s Symphony Hall located downtown. The Orpheum Theatre, Herberger Theater Center and Valley Youth Theatre are nearby. Also located in the central city are the Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona Capitol Museum, Children’s Museum, Arizona Science Center and Heard Museum. A popular monthly art walk to a growing number of downtown galleries is called First Fridays, held on the first Friday of each month.
