How Ahwatukee grew up to become Ahwatukee Foothills

R.G. "Rock" Argabright drove up to 24th Street and Chandler Boulevard and saw nothing but dirt and desert.

It was 1987 and he had just begun his career in real estate and decided to look out at the newly-purchased area that would become The Foothills.

"Oh my gosh," he thought, "This is all going to be houses some day?"

More than 20 years later, Argabright is still amazed at the incredible population growth he has witnessed in Ahwatukee Foothills.

"I just never believed it to happen," he said.

Argabright moved to Arizona from Ohio in 1964. After several construction jobs, he spent 22 years with the Arizona National Guard.

After he decided to switch to real estate, Argabright found himself trying to sell property in Ahwatukee for Hana Properties.

He became active in the community with the YMCA and is a former board member of the Ahwatukee Chamber of Commerce.

Now working Valleywide for Realty Executives, Argabright remembers showing clients around Ahwatukee in the early days.

"One of the most difficult things we used to have to do was avoid showing the dump," Argabright said, referring to the former junkyard at Ray Road and Interstate 10. "You'd try not to drive by it."

He remembers when the area was still patrolled by the Sheriff's Department before it was incorporated into the city of Phoenix - something Argabright said was a smart move on Phoenix's part.

"We're a bright spot in Phoenix," he said. "Phoenix is better because of us."

Ahwatukee Foothills has blossomed into a thriving place to live, Argabright continued, with great schools, great families and good, solid people he refers to as "the meat and potato crowd."

Businesses will continue what has been "a fantastic era" and keep the community vibrant, he added. "Ahwatukee should be proud of the area it has become."

World's largest cul-de-sac

Mike Mendoza turned down a position coaching professional baseball and moved to Ahwatukee in the early 1980s.

Mendoza graduated from McClintock High School in 1973 and went on to play Major League Baseball for the Houston Astros for a short time before he was offered a job with the Seattle Mariners.

A shoulder injury in 1982 made him reconsider his career and he moved to Ahwatukee with his wife to set up his real estate business.

"It was pretty obvious it was going to be a growing community," Mendoza said about the time shortly after Presely Development began building.

During his real estate career, "It's changed a lot in 20 years," he said. "I remember the days when you could buy a cute little house in Ahwatukee for under $100,000."

Mendoza said part of that growth and rise in value is due to Ahwatukee's esthetic appeal and the fact that it's not just a square grid, which earned it the nickname "World's Largest Cul-de-sac," much to out-of-towners' confusion.

"Some people think you're just going around in circles," he said.

Besides the layout of the community around the mountains and landscape, Ahwatukee became a great area for home buyers once all of the conveniences of businesses arrived.

"You don't even have to leave the world's largest cul-de-sac anymore," Mendoza said, describing the typical "Ahwatukeean" as a community-driven person, proud of where they live and involved with the schools and churches.

Mendoza's "Ahwatukeean" could easily be a description of himself.

In addition to selling houses in Ahwatukee Foothills for 23 years, he was on the fundraising committee for the YMCA and is active in his church.

As the community has grown, so has The Mendoza Team, which now includes his wife and son.

Even though he now owns the entire northwest region of Keller Williams, Mendoza said he will always have a home in Ahwatukee Foothills.

"I just think it's a great place to live," he said, "A great place to raise a family."

Relax and enjoy

Another former athlete playing a prominent role in Ahwatukee Foothills is Jeff Jirele, a former All-American track and field star from the University of Illinois who competed at 1976 Olympic Trials.

He has had a fun time staying involved with the community ever since he moved to Ahwatukee.

It was 1982 when he began working with State Farm Insurance at an office on Elliot Road near the original shopping center.

In the early days, Jirele went around knocking on doors, meeting the new residents of Ahwatukee to build a customer base.

As more and more people came in to fill those houses, businesses followed and more shopping centers were built. In 1987, Jirele moved to his office and current location in the Foothills Park Place Shopping Center.

"It's been fun to be around to see all the growth," he said. "I think it's time to sit back and enjoy it."

That "sit back and enjoy it" style could easily describe Jirele's way of doing business.

When someone walks into his office, they are invited to sit on his vintage car seat sofa and have some licorice from the jar nearby, while Jeff and everyone else in the office offer to bring them a water or soda.

It's the attitude he shares with many local business owners, which keeps that "small-town atmosphere in a big city," as Jirele describes it.

The Ahwatukee Easter Parade, shopping centers and the AMC movie theater across the street from his office are Jirele's favorite parts of the small-town atmosphere.

"I see nothing but great things for Ahwatukee."

A small-town community

Jerry Brewer started an air-conditioning and heating business out of his Ahwatukee home in 1982.

Since then, Brewer's Air Conditioning and Heating as grown to a 20-plus-person team covering all of the East Valley.

When Brewer retired four years ago, the current owners, Tim Riley and Brewer's brother-in-law, Dale Falk, kept the same name for the business.

"Jerry is so cemented into the community," Falk said. "He wanted the Brewer's name to continue going forward."

The Brewer name and his community involvement with organizations like the Chamber of Commerce were passed on to the new owners, who are both active with the chamber and the Ahwatukee Country Club.

Riley and Falk are small-town transplants who settled in Ahwatukee Foothills and have found that small-town character in their new home.

"I don't know where else you could go that would be nicer than here," Riley said. "You've got everything you need."

With all of the shopping, a "tight-knit community" and "really warm, friendly, fuzzy-kind of people," Falk said there are no negatives to living and working in Ahwatukee Foothills.

"It's kind of a dream world to live in, really."

Michelle Price is interning this semester for the AFN. She is a sophomore at ASU.

Editor's note: This year, the Ahwatukee Foothills News celebrates its 30th anniversary. This story is the first in a monthly series highlighting the history of both the newspaper and the Ahwatukee area, as well as key players in the community. Please look for the monthly feature in the last Wednesday edition of each month.