Rendering Courtesy of SkySong

Replacing Los Arcos Mall with a high-tech campus sounded great five years ago. Today, it’s still far from an inspiring and profitable reality.

SkySong, a new Mixed-use development at the intersection of Scottsdale and McDowell roads, is a far cry from Los Arcos Mall, which used to occupy the site.

City crews demolished the outdated and abandoned mall in 2000 to make room for SkySong, which is being touted as a “21st Century,” or modern, project.

As of mid-January, SkySong was about 25 percent finished and will later include 1.2 million square feet of office, research and retail space, a hotel/conference center and 325 market-rate apartments.
 
The entire project, however, may take a decade longer to complete and is largely dependent on the volatile housing and construction industries.
 
Currently, two four-story buildings are open. One is mostly occupied by Arizona State University and was finished in January 2008. The other building was finished in April 2008, and its main tenant is Ticketmaster.
 
The buildings are about 150,000 square feet each and have flexible floor plans to accommodate most businesses. The next two will be more angular and include more reflective glass. The design has not been finalized.

SkySong incorporates a palette of soft, desert hues that are supposed to be relaxing. The live/work/play model that SkySong boasts is forward-thinking, but is this project as special as proponents claim?

Yes, says Michele Irwin, whose company handles public relations for SkySong. While most commercial developments choose an anchor of, for example, a grocery store, this project does not have a commercial anchor. Its focus is a 125-foot-tall, artistic shade structure that features light-colored canvas pulled taut. The project’s public relations team describes as “iconic.”
 
“It won’t be as tall as say, the Space Needle, but it will attract people,” Irwin says. “They’ll want to stop and see what this thing is.”