Live/Work: Soho Scottsdale prepares 2nd phase of development

By: Scottsdale Progress 

Before the COVID-19 pandemic changed the widespread routine of commuting to work, sending tens of millions of employees onto remote schedules, Catclar Investments principal Irene Clary had a dream of building a community that provided a work-life balance.

In 2015, Clary traveled to Downtown Los Angeles and toured the Barker Block apartment complex, an old factory that had been retrofitted and renovated into a series of live/work lofts. She felt inspired to create a new project that balanced work and leisure spaces back home in Arizona, and Soho Scottsdale was born.

“The word ‘Soho’ means ‘small office, home office’ in Chinese,” Clary explains. “We have out-of-the-box kind of developments that incorporate lofts and live/work spaces … a very eclectic mix of development types. You’ll have industrial, you’ll have commercial, you’ll have residential smack dab in the middle. It was all incorporated.”

In the dramatic shadow of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, Clary built the first phase of Soho Scottsdale with architects Bing Hu and Fitzgerald Associates by the intersection of the Loop 101 and Bell Road. The development has 18 townhomes and 10 lofts with five retail spaces above an underground parking garage connected by elevators. For the site’s two penthouse units, the elevators travel directly from the garage into the private residence.

“People just loved that concept,” Clary says. “The nice thing about the townhomes is that they have loading doors and they open into your exterior space. … It may be your office on that main level … and we know we have great weather in Arizona. You can put up your door and work with the elements and the flowers and the trees.”

Alongside the warm weather, Clary said that another benefit of the project’s location on North 92nd Street is its proximity to local points of interest as well as the Scottsdale Airport.

“We have everything up here,” Clary explains. “WestWorld is five minutes walking distance to the south. And just to northwest is the TPC, the Phoenix Open, and then all the activities that go on around this North Scottsdale hub. … I think we’re one of the closest communities that can really have a complete view of the mountains, and they’re very beautiful.”

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