SkySong & McDowell Road Commercial Landscaping

Office campus, apartments and plaza edges

Also known as: SkySong, ASU SkySong, ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center

SkySong has a giant shade sail. The rest of the block could use a few good trees.

Scottsdale and the ASU Foundation started the project in 2005 and the first buildings opened in 2008. Plaza Companies, the developer, describes a 42-acre campus with more than 1 million square feet built and over 1.2 million planned at full build-out, plus multifamily housing and the Element Scottsdale hotel. Its centerpiece is a big shade structure over a central plaza. That mix means formal office entries, apartment common areas and public walkways all within a short stroll. Tenants named over the years include Oracle and Ticketmaster, so first impressions count.

Plazas and parking courts in this part of town take full sun and lots of reflected heat. We watch trees in tight planters for stress, adjust drip as the seasons swing, and keep granite topped off so dust and weeds stay down. Apartment sites get attention around pool decks, dog areas and leasing entries, where residents and prospects actually look. And we'll tell you honestly when a plant has given up and needs replacing, not just more water.

South Scottsdale properties along McDowell Road tend to be older than north Scottsdale ones, so irrigation upgrades often pay off fast. Scottsdale Water has offered rebates for commercial and HOA common-area grass removal and smart controllers, but you must contact the Water Conservation Office and get approval before work begins. We can help you plan a project around that process so the rebate is not lost on day one. Then we maintain the new desert beds so they actually fill in instead of just looking like a gravel parking lot.