This is lightly modified from a Twitter thread that covered the same topic.
Man-made lakes are a feature throughout the Phoenix metro area. Seriously, they’re everywhere. Notable then, yes, but unusual? No. There are, however, a subset of these lakes that I find fascinating & have been down the rabbit hole on: Man-made waterski lake housing developments. Now you might be asking any number of the following questions: What is that? Why does it exist? And in Phoenix? You said ‘developments;’ there are more than one of these? Who knew waterskiing was so popular in the desert? Fear not, because I wasted enough time to answer them all.
First, what is that? What is a waterski lake housing development? Well, it is, as they say, what it says on the tin. It’s a single family housing development centered on a waterski lake. And these things aren’t cheap! Houses in the photo above run from $500k to $3M+. Second, why does it exist? Well, as you may know, Phoenix has a lot of in-migration. The best guess I can hazard is that some well-to-do people moved to Phoenix and wanted to create a place where they could still waterski, but in a place devoid of places to do so, and well, water.
Now, I mentioned that there are several of these throughout the metro – many in far flung parts of the valley. See the photo below:
Let’s dive into each then. First, Lakeside Ski Village, located between Gila Bend & Buckeye. Evidently this one holds water ski events and has a bunch of onsite facilities. It’s also mostly built out, which is unusual for these developments. Houses appear to be weekend homes.
Second, Crystal Point Estates. This one is in Gilbert and is pricey! Almost all $1M+ here. Another one that is pretty well built out, but that’s less surprising because it’s in a wealthy, built up suburb. I’d also wager that these are primary residences.
Notice that it also has enough room for another lake. They were ambitious! Evidently a lot can be had for around $100k. It’s located on the lovely Old US 80 near the Historic Gillespie Bridge (worth the drive). I think, more than the others, this tells you about why these exist.
Okay, so here’s the thing, these are weird. But it’s hard to deny that there’s something appealing about the idea of living on a lake in the desert. That’s why there are so many other man-made lakes in and around the valley! Unlike those, I actually sort of respect that these are purpose-built. It’s not a feature of the development, it’s THE feature. So good for these folks. During this rabbit hole, I found out that there is an entire realty practice devoted to them, which is where I got a lot of this info: http://waterskiarizona.com/index.php.
In summation, I guess there’s no better place to waterski than the place that its notably devoid of water. Such is the way of development in Phoenix! Cheap land leads to a whole bunch of weirdness.
Desert City Dispatch 