SCOTTSDALE, AZ-Though much of the Phoenix region was hard-hit in the wake of the subprime housing collapse and Great Recession, one especially struggling submarket was the Scottsdale Airpark. Bounded by Loop 101 and Thunderbird Road on the north and south, with 64^th Street and 90^th Street-96^th Street representing the west and east boundaries respectively, the submarket consists of 3,300 acres and contains 33.9 million square feet of commercial real estate space consisting of office, light industrial retail and aviation buildings, as well as hospitality properties.

Approximately 2,848 companies make their home in Scottsdale Airpark, with 52,000 people employed there. And, as Jim Keeley, founding partner of Colliers International's Scottsdale office points out, job loss in the white-collar industry impacted Scottsdale Airpark's office sector in a huge way. "There had been more square footage added in the 2000s – there was huge momentum to build between 2005 and 2007," he tells GlobeSt.com. "But the time the newer, bigger projects were finishing up in 2008, the recession hit." Though the industrial sector in the submarket was also effected, it didn't take as bad a hit as its office counterpart.

The tanking economy also had a dire impact on the leasing side – in 2009, the vacancy rate hit 29%, which prompted a huge drop in rental rates, which dropped from $30 per square foot to $18 per square foot at the height of the financial downturn. These days, occupancy stands at 18.5%, with rental rates slowly recovering.