Before going to the drawing board, however, the city will host its first Greater Airpark Area Plan Visioning Series. The first session, set for May 21, will be geared toward business and property owners. The following day, city officials will host a community workshop. The goal is to get input on the future of the Airpark, which is bound by Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard, Central Arizona Project canal on the north, Thunderbird Road/ Redfield Road on the south, 90th Street/Loop 101 on the east and Scottsdale Road on the west.

City leaders are striving to create a comprehensive redevelopment plan to ensure continued growth on the land, which is adjacent to Scottsdale Municipal Airport. According to the city's website, Scottsdale Airpark has 2,400 businesses operating in 22.3 million sf, a hub for more than 46,000 workers. The Airpark presently is the third largest employment center in the state, but it's expected to become the largest one by 2010.

The problem is there isn't anywhere to put any more businesses. "It's built out from a horizontal standpoint," Brent Moser, executive vice president for Phoenix-based Grubb & Ellis BRE/Commercial LLC, tells GlobeSt.com. "You might find a piece of land here and there, but the numbers have gone from $8 to $10 per sf 10 or so years ago to $40 to $60 per sf today."

Additionally, Moser says there is more demand coming from executives who live within 10 miles of the Airpark. "They don't want to commute 20 or 30 minutes to get to work," he says, "and Scottsdale Municipal offers the best options as far as corporate air travel are concerned."

Equally concerning are transportation issues. Moser says the visioning process will no doubt address traffic and rail infrastructure. He says discussions have been held about bringing a light-rail line to the Airpark and even running roads under runways, but nothing has been determined yet.

Moser says the process might lead to a plan for more vertical, urban mixed-use development as opposed to the traditional horizontal business-park design of the present-day Airpark. Vertical development is probably the way to go, he says, especially given the role of Scottsdale Municipal Airport in the plans. "At some point, Scottsdale Municipal will be the reliever and a passenger airport for the metro area," he says. "That's going to add even more growth to the Airpark."