BUSINESS

Optima Camelview Village is stunning complex built by Optima, which prides itself on being “a design-driven real estate development firm rooted in the modernist

tradition.” (Johnathon De Young/Special to the Progress)

High-end Scottsdale penthouse can cost a buyer a bit of coin

BY J. GRABER

Progress Staff Writer

For sale: Professionally decorated and furnished, 1,463-square-foot penthouse with amazing views within walking distance to Fashion Square and Old Town. Features: hardwood floors, ceiling-tofloor windows, gourmet kitchen with marble counter tops and quiet balcony.

Cost: Not necessarily one red cent of hard currency.

Instead of cold hard cash, it can set you back roughly 47 bitcoins, or about 683 ethereum.

The ultra-luxurious unit is one of four condos for sale in the Optima Camelview Villageby Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty with an option for paying in cryptocurrency.

“The seller realizes bitcoin, ethereum and digital assets, in general, are becoming a mainstream asset class,” said Johnathon De Young, a Realtor with Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty.

“And it seems only appropriate for a substantial investment group to begin dipping its toes in what is likely some of the greatest financial innovation of our lifetime,” he added.

Bitcoin and ethereum are two of the most prevalent forms of cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency can be thought of as digital dollars. It only exists virtually with no central issuing or regulating agency backing it. Its value is not based on anything other than its scarcity, which is protected solely by cryptography.

Of course, you can pay with traditional money, if you insist on living in the dark ages, but that route will cost you

Scottsdale.org l @ScottsdaleProgress /ScottsdaleProgress

Spared the platter, orange lobster finds loving home

BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer

It had been a normal day for the kitchen staff at Nobu, an upscale Japanese restaurant located in the Scottsdale Fashion Square.

Three hours before opening one day late last month, the Nobu staff had just begun unloading a shipment of seafood.

While sifting through a sea of brownish-red lobsters, the staff stumbled upon something they had never seen before: An orange lobster.

The staff almost immediately took a step back from their regular operations to gawk at the crustacean’s rare color.

Nobu Executive Chef Carl Murray moved the rare lobster into a container and stored it in the restaurant’s walk-in cooler until he could figure out what to do.

The next day, Murray called OdySea.

“I said ‘let’s call the aquarium’ out of curiosity and the aquarium was gracious enough to come by and pick it up,” he said. “We had heard stories about other restaurants saving a lobster so we figured we would go ahead and see what we had. Only after the fact, we learned it was a pretty special lobster.”

Upon hearing the news about Nobu’s “catch,” Erika Shen, an OdySea animal care specialist, grabbed a cooler and bubbler and rushed to the restaurant.

Staff swaddled it in a moist towel and Shen headed back to work.

By the time she arrived, the news had spread around the aquarium and a crowd of employees congregated around her.

Unsure of how long the creature had

Erika Shen, an animal care specialist at OdySea Aquarium is caring for a rare orange lobster found by kitchen staff at the Fashion Square restaurant Nobu. (Courtesy of OdySea Aquarium) been out of water, Shen began the acclimation process to get it ready for closer observation. “We were initially blown away by the fact that it was bright orange, but we did fear that it was out of water,” she said. Shen panicked when she realized acclimation could take up to 90 minutes, so she did some research and discovered these lobsters can be out of water for up to 48-hours. Shen and other staff also discovered that only about one in every 30 million Maine lobsters are orange. They also found out that the lobster could reach a century in age, grow to over three seeLOBSTER page 27

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This is one of the penthouse condos at Optima Camelview Village. (Johnathon De Young)

CONDO ���� page 25

$2,048,200 for the penthouse model.

No one really knows how many real estate transactions around the world have used cryptocurrency but it’s exceedingly rare, De Young said.

Cryptocurrency offers a level of anonymity in transactions – something much valued by buyers of high-end real estate, who often purchase property through limited liability corporations for privacy reasons.

Aside from privacy, such buyers also are looking for properties with contemporary decor that are move-in ready.

“They don’t want to do a lot of work,” De Young said.

The Hudye Group is selling the four homes, which range in price from about $1.6 million to just over $2 million each.

“At Hudye Group, we realize that digital assets and cryptocurrencies are becoming more and more commonplace for investors and buyers around the world,” said Ben Hudye.

“We want to help facilitate a transaction that is mutually beneficial to all parties involved so we are extremely pleased that we can offer some of the finest in luxury high-rise condominiums for sale, with the flexibility that bitcoin and ethereum provide,” he explained.

“These are properties that are highly sought after and will attract a wide range of buyers locally, nationally, and even internationally.”

The four units have had his phone ringing, De Young said.

“Inventory is very lean and there is a tremendous amount of demand right now for this type of product,” he said. “When you combine the quality and desirability of these particular condos, along with the walkability, shopping, dining, ease to the airports, it is very well possible we could see our first real estate transaction in Scottsdale using a digital asset.”

But maybe more appropriately, the real interest in the properties is coming in from the internet.

“They’re getting a tremendous number of clicks,” he said.

There are nuances to a cryptocurrency transaction involving real estate, such as having a title company well versed in how to process the deal.

Stewart Title, which has experience in Bitcoin transactions, will serve as the escrow company for the transactions at.

To date there’s been one real estate transaction that involved cryptocurrency in Arizona, and Stewart Title handled that transaction.

No matter how luxurious the condominiums are or how novel the currency used to purchase them is, keep in mind that they are adjacent Old Town which means parking is at a premium.

It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that $2 million, whether in cryptocurrency or cash, only gets the buyer one parking space.

feet in length and gain up to 40 pounds.

Once the lobster was acclimated to the water, the staff did more observations and decided it is female.

“We’ve been having a lot of fun getting to know this lobster and she’s very personable,” Shen said.

The lobster is currently in her own holding system and the staff at OdySea is in the process of determining the schematics for a tank to display it.

“Right now, we’re still in the process of determining the best environment for her,” said Shen. “The systems that we currently have are geographically different and the animals that we have are not ones that she would normally be found with.”

Not only was this lobster spared from becoming a meal at Nobu, but Shen also believes that it has a better chance at living a long life in captivity as opposed to living in the ocean.

“Her orange coloration is so vibrant that she would probably be at much more risk to predators in her native environment,” she said. “Her normal friends are a brownish red color and their native environment is a rock substrate that they can burrow, hide and match the coloration.”

Even though this lobster has a rare color, it has also given OdySea Aquarium a unique opportunity to educate guests about the varied species of lobsters that surround North America.

The only lobsters it has on exhibit are from California.

“We are pretty focused on being able to educate on the differences between the lobsters and the types there are on the different coasts,” Shen said. “So, she has really given us an awesome opportunity to do that.”

As someone whose job is to serve crustaceans to diners, Murray admits it is a bit ironic that he helped save the creature rather than boil it.

“It was a good heartwarming story for all of us, especially with all of the challenges restaurants have faced during the pandemic,” he said. “I think we all needed a feel-good story.”

New senior living community under construction

PROGRESS NEWS STAFF

Construction has begun on a $64-million luxury senior living community in Scottsdale.

Cadence Living’s Acoya Shea community at Scottsdale Road and Shea Boulevard will offer 147 independent, assisted living and memory care units in 190,000-square-foot complex on 2.55 acres, according to a release.

Cadence said amenities will include cluding multiple indoor and outdoor dining venues with farm-to-table meals, a private courtyard with a fireplace and swimming pool, movie theater, salon and barbershop, fitness studio, cocktail lounge, underground parking garage, outdoor pet area as well as a memory care garden, tele-medicine room and a dedicated massage and physical therapy room.

The four-story community will include four wings that conjoin to a two-story great room with a large outdoor living area aimed at seniors seeking an active, healthy, and social lifestyle.

“Now more than ever, seniors are demanding an active, healthy, and creatively engaging lifestyle,” said Eric Gruber, principal with Cadence Living. Each residence will include a 24-hour emergency line.

Acoya Shea is Cadence Living’s ninth community in Arizona, and the fourth community to be developed in partnership with Ryan Companies.

The new luxury senior living community was designed and built by Ryan. Construction is expected to complete in mid2023. The project will create about 100 permanent jobs and construction will generate approximately $6 million in job wages, according to the release.

“Senior living communities have evolved tremendously, and Cadence Living understands that,” said Daniel Raimer, director of real estate development for Ryan. Scottsdale-based Cadence was formed in 2016 and operates senior living communities across the country.

Information: cadencesl.com.

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