Life Coach in North Scottsdale, AZ

Residents in a community in the foothills of Scottsdale, Arizona, say they are on the verge of running out of their water supply after the city stopped selling water to the unincorporated suburb due to the ongoing drought.

Rio Verde Foothills includes normally lush golf courses, tennis courts, a clubhouse and hiking trails. Home prices start around $500,000 and run up to $2 million, according to recent Zillow listings.

Until recently, the unincorporated community with about 1,000 residents bought its water from Scottsdale. However, with the recent drought conditions, Scottsdale city officials announced in late December it would stop selling water to Maricopa County residents in the Rio Verde Foothills.

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"Maricopa County officials and county residents living in the Rio Verde Foothills area were informed of this eventuality in 2015/16, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022," a Dec. 29 Scottsdale city memo read.

It’s been over two weeks since the water supply was cut off on Jan. 1.

The Arizona Republic newspaper reports Rio Verde Foothills residents have sued the city of Scottsdale.

While the Southwest monsoon season and rounds of atmospheric river rains slamming into California have offered small improvements to the overall western drought, the problem is that Arizona gets about 36% of its water supply from the Colorado River. The recent rain cannot fix a problem decades in the making.

According to Arizona State University's Kyl Center for Water Policy at Morrison Institute, for the past 20 years, water levels in Lake Mead, a large Colorado River reservoir, have been dropping amid drought conditions.

The Colorado River provides water to 40 million people across seven states, including Arizona, according to NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System.

States are cutting water supplies amid a plan to mitigate the risk of Lake Mead's critically low water levels. Arizona's Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties receive water through Central Arizona Project will see the biggest cuts, according to ASU's Kyl Center for Water Policy.

On Jan. 1, the Colorado River Tier 2 mandatory water cuts went into effect, cutting Arizona's supply from the Colorado River by 21%. This year marks the second year of water cuts for Arizona.

In her recent State of the State address, Gov. Katie Hobbs said Arizona's decades-long drought is the "challenge of our time." In the same address, she revealed a previously sealed Arizona Department of Water Resources report showing parts of Phoenix’s West Valley is 15% short of the water it needs for the next 100 years.

"This report unequivocally shows that we have to act now, or this will only be the first new area that faces this kind of shortage," Hobbs said.

As of the latest U.S. Drought Monitor report on Jan. 12, most of southwestern and northern Arizona is under abnormally dry to moderate drought conditions, an overall improvement from last year, during which 57% of the state was under drought.

There has been some rain in the Phoenix metro area this week, thanks to light showers producing about a quarter inch of rainfall in some areas.

In the meantime, residents of Rio Verde Foothills are looking for alternative water sources but say the situation is becoming dire.

Hilton Cavasson in North Scottsdale is now open. Conveniently located just off the Loop 101 and Hayden Road, this new six-story hotel is perfect for business and leisure.

There are so many reasons to choose Hilton Cavasson for your next visit to Scottsdale. First, the location is ideal for both business and leisure travelers. Right off the Loop 101 freeway, it is a quick and easy drive from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and just minutes from Scottsdale Airport. You are close to everything, including major event venues like the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction, the WM Phoenix Open and the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show.

Additionally, Hilton Cavasson is a beautiful property with well-appointed rooms and amenities. As soon as you step foot in the hotel, you can see how the design embraces the surroundings, bringing the outside in with sliding doors at the front desk and in the lobby that can open entirely on nice days. The decor and finishes make the interior match seamlessly with the beautiful desert and mountains you can see through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

The hotel features 237 rooms with 15,000 square feet of event space that includes an exclusive rooftop lounge overlooking the breathtaking McDowell Mountains. The guest rooms offer picturesque views from every direction and beautiful modern finishes with Southwest touches throughout. Hilton Cavasson is also pet-friendly, so no need to leave your four-legged friend at home. There is a 50-lb. weight limit and a $75 non-refundable fee.

Desert Pony Tavern is the hotel’s trendy restaurant and bar to serve guests and the community. This Southwest-inspired gastropub features an open-air dining experience with more sliding glass doors and a beautiful patio with firepits. This restaurant at Hilton Cavasson offers a breakfast buffet daily with Belgian waffles, omelets made to order, fresh fruit and more. There are also a la carte options including the Aztec eggs benedict, brioche French toast and Desert Pony enchiladas.

The all-day menu at Desert Pony Tavern features bacon-fat popcorn, marinated olives, burgers, salads and our personal favorite, the pan-seared king salmon. The tavern also offers a great cocktail menu and selection of beers and wines, including smoked Old Fashioneds.

For more information about Hilton Cavasson in North Scottsdale and to book your stay, visit hilton.com.

Hilton Cavasson in North Scottsdale7965 E. Cavasson Blvd.Scottsdale, AZ 85255

Nearly a year after acquiring a large — and expensive — site in north Scottsdale, Mack Real Estate Group filed plans to get city approval for its new development.

The developer submitted an application earlier this month for the first phase of Mack Innovation Park on the northeast corner of the Loop 101 freeway and Bell Road. The first phase will include five buildings that range between 45,375 square feet and 129,395 square feet, totaling nearly 494,000 square feet. The site plan shows four buildings for another 572,000 square feet for a second phase.

In total, the park could bring on 1.2 million square feet across 11 buildings when fully built out across industrial and flex office space. A timeline for when construction is expected to start and complete was not immediately known on Tuesday.

Mack will be the developer of the park while Butler Design Group has been tasked as the architect. Kimley-Horn will be the civil engineer and Withey Morris is the land-use attorney for the project.

"We're pleased to bring forth our plans for the development of the 124-acre site in Scottsdale and satisfy the unmet demand for larger industrial and flex office spaces in the north Scottsdale submarket. We also believe in being good corporate stewards and will continue to meet with members of the community and be responsive to their requests as we move forward," said Richard Mack, CEO of Mack Real Estate Group, in an emailed statement to the Phoenix Business Journal. "We have boots on the ground and our fingers on the pulse of this exciting market, and we continue to work with our neighbors in Scottsdale to explore their suggestions for our current project."

The northeast Valley, the submarket in which Mack Innovation Park is set to be located, has the smallest industrial inventory and fewest amount of square feet under construction of all submarkets in the Phoenix metro in the fourth quarter of 2022. The area had 14.2 million square feet of inventory across 505 industrial buildings and had just over 160,000 square feet under construction as of Q4 2022, according to a market report from Cushman & Wakefield.

The project will be heard by Scottsdale's Development Review Board at a date to be determined.

Mack won the 124-acre site in March 2022 at an Arizona State Land Department auction, bidding $125 million.

Several development groups also pursued the site, which had an opening bid of $58.58 million. Mack beat out other bidders such as Baker Development Group, Verde Investments Inc., FCP Fund V REIT Investor LLC and 101 & Bell Development Partners LLC, according to previous reporting.

While based in New York, Mack has been investing in metro Phoenix since 1987, mainly focusing on industrial projects until venturing into rental units this year. In August, Mack started construction on the first seven buildings of a 3 million-square-foot industrial park in Deer Valley, six miles from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s campus. The first phase of the park will comprise 917,000 square feet of speculative warehouse space and is expected to be delivered this year.

Mack also will invest about $250 million to build three single-family rental home communities across the Valley. The company plans to build 735 rental units near TSMC in north Phoenix across two communities.

It’s time once again to grab your garters and slip on your skivvies for Cupid’s Undie Run happening in Scottsdale on Saturday, February 4. This annual event is now in its 13th year and has raised nearly $21 million nationally since its beginning. The local chapter has broken its record already and continues to climb.

“Last year, in Phoenix, we raised an amazing $10,600 for The Children’s Tumor Foundation,” Tammie Gineo, Event Director of Cupid's Undie Run Phoenix, tells Phoenix New Times. “This year, we have already topped that with $16,500 raised and we aren’t done yet.”

The 21-and-over charity run is taking place in 30 cities across the country. Additionally, it is the official event of the Children’s Tumor Foundation. All of the net proceeds go to funding neurofibromatosis (NF) research. Gineo says that NF affects one in every 3,000 births, “which is about 2.5 million people worldwide. Anyone can be born with it, and it affects everyone differently. NF can lead to blindness, deafness, bone abnormalities, disfigurement, learning challenges, disabling pain, or cancer. There is no cure yet.”

Gineo has a personal attachment to the cause. She says she had never heard of NF until she saw her friend Heather Frazier post about it on social media. Frazier's son, Ryan, was diagnosed with the disease at 6 months old.

“He has been a little fighter who has numerous tumors throughout his body; however, he has one very long complex tumor called a plexiform neurofibroma. It's in his head, neck, shoulders, and upper chest. It presses and wraps around his carotid artery. He suffers from hearing loss in his left ear, sleep apnea, and asthma to name a few symptoms. He endures MRIs every four to six months and at the age of 11 has undergone 23 MRIs already. In March 2022 he started his second round of chemo,” Gineo says.

Moved by her friend’s post, Gineo decided to participate in The Cupid’s Undie Run herself in 2019. “I Googled to see if there was a local event and there sure was,” she recalls. “When COVID happened, there was a pause to the event. In 2021, it was brought back virtually, and last year they were looking for a new event director. I couldn't miss the opportunity of doing my small part in making a difference to help one day find a cure for Ryan and all those other families who are affected by this disorder.”

As the name implies, participants in the Undie Run are encouraged to dress down for the event, namely into their unmentionables, which can be anything from long johns to lingerie, but most of all, have fun with it.

“This is a charitable party!" says Gineo. "Go nuts with your undies, onesie, or costume, go let that hair down, but don’t go all thong, pasty, or nude on us. Remember, it's for the kids — we just hope they aren’t watching.”

Organizers say the run will begin at 2 p.m. and traffic won’t be interrupted when it starts on the sidewalks in front of the Well Bar on North Scottsdale Road. The course winds through a few nearby residential blocks and ends back at the Well Bar.

“As we strip down to our underwear, enjoy some sunshine and liquid courage, run or walk a mile-ish, we have to remember why we are doing this," says Gineo. "We are doing our small part in raising money and awareness for neurofibromatosis.”

Cupid's Undie Run is on Saturday, February 4 at The Well Bar located at 2623 North Scottsdale Boulevard, from noon to 4 pm. Registration for either in-person or virtual participation is $45.

For those who cannot participate, you can donate to the cause by way of the organization's website.

If the premature demise of the 49ers season has you counting down to baseball season, the San Francisco Giants will be heading to Arizona’s Sonoran Desert in February to begin spring training. The team begins Cactus League play on Feb. 25, with its first home game at Scottsdale Stadium slated for Feb. 26. (Meanwhile, the A's report to Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, which is less than 10 miles from where the Giants play spring ball.)

If you are heading to the desert for the earliest look at the team, you’re going to have some sunny down time to explore between games. Keep reading for tips on fun things to do in Scottsdale, where to stay and where to eat and drink while you're there, including Old Town Scottsdale restaurants for every taste and budget.

Fun things to do in Scottsdale: From hiking to hot air balloon riding to bar hopping

Don’t give into the temptation to hit the snooze button on your alarm, as some of the best things to do in Scottsdale will take place early in the morning. Seriously, watching the sunrise as you take flight in a hot air balloon is well worth the wake-up call. Both Hot Air Expeditions and Rainbow Ryders launch flights that deliver breathtaking views of the cactus-studded Sonoran Desert. It can be chilly there in the morning, so dress in layers and shed accordingly as the sun comes up. And don't forget a hat. Depending on your spot in the balloon's basket, the bursts of flames from the balloon's propane burners can make your head feel a bit toasty.

If you'd rather keep your feet on the ground and do some hiking, nearly half of Scottsdale's land area is dedicated open space. The McDowell Sonoran Preserve stretches more than 30,000 acres and boasts more than 225 miles of trails. The Preserve is open sunrise to sunset and there's no fee for access or parking.

An unexpected pleasure you'll find amid Scottsdale's endless sand is kayaking. The REI Co-op Adventure Center in the city offers guided kayaking tours on the Lower Salt River. Have you phone charged and at the ready for snapping pics; along with bald eagles and egrets, wild horses frequent the scenic riverbanks.

If spying unique architecture is your idea of a good time, Frank Lloyd Wright spent his winters designing, creating and staying warm in Scottsdale. Taliesin West, the home Wright built with his apprentices, is a UNESCO World Heritage site and National Historic Landmark. There are multiple tour options worth checking out, but on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month, Taliesin West features a Sunsets & Sips happy hour that lets you raise a glass while taking in stellar Scottsdale views. There's no property tour, but select spaces are open for the evening.

Speaking of drinks, another fun way to imbibe in the desert is on a 14-seater Arizona Party Bike. Thanks to the boost of an electric motor, you barely have to pedal as you roll through Old Town Scottsdale — where Scottsdale Stadium is situated — on this comically large machine. The two-hour Old Town Pub Crawl provides a unique tour of the area, hitting a trio of bars during your festive ride. The party bike captain does all the steering, so you can enjoy adult beverages while you make your way from one watering hole to the next.

Scottsdale restaurants you need to try

Whatever you're craving for dinner, odds are good you'll find it in Old Town Scottsdale. Pizzeria Virtu serves classic Neapolitan-style pizza, pasta and salads. The Mission is a go-to for margaritas and elevated Mexican food (butternut squash tacos anyone?). Hula's Modern Tiki serves everything from ahi poke to pulled pork, and Hawaiian Loco Moco (ground beef, rice and gravy) in the company of colorful cocktails poured into fun vessels, because you can never have too many tropical drinks.

Traveling with kids or picky grown-up eaters? Opened and owned by the same family since 1958, the vibrant-pink Sugar Bowl restaurant and ice cream parlor offers unfussy favorites like burgers, BLTs and chili, served alongside milkshakes and banana splits. "The Family Circus" cartoonist Bil Keane lived nearby and featured the popular eatery in his work throughout the years; a selection of comics are on display.

Upscale Sel ofers a seasonally rotating menu that includes a la carte options, a multi-course chef's tasting and a vegetarian tasting. (Can I personally recommend the Malpeque Oyster Stew with smoked trout roe — which I'm still thinking about.) On Sundays, a DJ performs during Sel's three-course Sunday brunch service which makes for a fun dining experience. FnB restaurant, which was named "best new restaurant" by several Phoenix publications when it first opened its doors in 2009, uses what's fresh from local farmers to create its delicious dishes.

Scottsdale hotels and resorts worth booking

Being picky about your Scottsdale hotel shouldn't be much of an issue during Giants spring training. If you like the idea of spending more time strolling and less time in traffic, there are a trio of hotels less than a mile from Scottsdale Stadium. Senna House and Canopy — both run by Hilton — each boast rooftop pools ideal for sipping a cocktail while watching a desert sunset. W Scottsdale is home to not one, not two, but three bars, so there's pretty much always a party going on there.

If you owe that special significant other for tagging along on a baseball-centric getaway to the desert, there's no shortage of luxe resorts in Scottsdale to sweeten the deal. Mountain Shadows boasts swoon-worthy views of Camelback Mountain and glamorous guest rooms. Set in the foothills of Pinnacle Peak, the Four Seasons Scottsdale at Troon North is remote, but easily entertains guests not interested in attending a sporting event. It also boasts two highly rated golf courses if you want to bring your clubs on the trip.

If you want to make a return trip to Scottsdale for Giants spring training in 2024 into an easy sell, head directly to Castle Hot Springs. After a few days of soaking in the mineral-rich thermal pools, you won't want to leave without reservations for next February on the books.

Dana Rebmann lives in NorCal wine country and writes about travel, nature, wine, and anything else that makes folks smile for a variety of publications including Garden & Gun, Wine Enthusiast, Shondaland, Hemispheres, AARP, The Telegraph.com and more. Dana loves assignments that get her outside, especially near or in water. Follow her on Instagram @danarebmann and on Twitter @drebmann.