Sonoran Communities, Inc: Dream Large, Aim High, Build Well
Sonoran Communities Inc. was founded in 1921 as Sonoran Construction, a father-and-sons partnership in the Russo family. In 1947, the company broke ground on the modest, first phase of a new village on the old Highway 60, Circle City. The seminal resort community is still easily accessible on the Santa Fe Railroad's Ash Fork line, and it still sees a tremendous draw of vacationers and families. Circle City railroad station is flanked by an attractive street with a classic feel, which still draws crowds for its small businesses, joyous festivals, raucuous nightlife, and parklike neighborhoods. However, the early days of Circle City were hamstrung by the area's remoteness and poor government. The town did not have a significant year-round population until 1956 and was not incorporated until 1971.
Sonoran Communities began expanding within the Valley of the Sun in the 1970s. We entered a partnership with the Southern Pacific to operate regional trains throughout Arizona in 1974. It would have been challenging to outshine our first community, still growing today, but we brought our groundbreaking designs to projects such as Ahwatukee, Deer Valley, and Kyrene. At the same time, yet more neighborhoods in Circle City built on a strong foundation, guided by an automated rapid transportation system. Dove Valley Foothills and Arroyo Peralta connected to our neighborhood seamlessly, with individual attention given to every street and walking path. They sold out at record speeds and more than tripled the population of our town.
We entered the boom years of the '80s with Arrowhead Lakes in Southern California, opened 1981, and Emeraude outside Las Vegas, opened 1986. The firm briefly planned a chain of attractive railroad suburbs in New Mexico at the time, but changes in local government squashed the development. In 1989, Maricopa County voters failed to pass a ballot initiative to build a regional automated metro system, and SCI stepped in to invest in the county's future. The ValTrans Red Line opened in 1994 and, today, another line through Downtown Phoenix is under construction.
The Sonoran Communities Digital Gallery is maintained by a crack team of real estate agents in the East Valley. While we are paid well, the hours could be better.
