The unincorporated county area north of Tucson and between Oro Valley and Marana is known as Casas Adobes.  Though it is an informal community, it is older than both Oro Valley and Marana and has developed its own distinct lifestyle and personality.

Casas Adobes has the Northwest's most unique shopping center, Casas Adobes Shopping Plaza, its only shopping mall, Foothills Mall, its only hospital, Northwest Medical Center, and its only botanical park, Tohono Chul Park.  As a result the area draws people from communities all around giving it a hustle and bustle distinct from its neighboring suburbs.  What was once home to just cows and coyotes is now single-family homes, apartment complexes, gated communities, shopping centers, medical facilities, parks, golf courses, restaurants and more.

Built by the Nanini family in the 1950s with the same red-brown adobe brick of their Casas Adobes subdivision, and with the intent to mimic the quaint neighborhood markets of Sam Nanini's hometown in Italy, the plaza has unique character and charm.

Recent renovations and expansions have accented or even improved the center's look.  Home to upscale boutiques and exceptional restaurants, the plaza has remained one of the Northwest's favorite destinations.

Just down Ina Road two miles from the plaza is Foothills Mall, 7401 N. La Cholla Blvd.  The only shopping mall in the Northwest has just completed a full-scale renovation and expansion.  The mall offers a complete shopping and entertainment experience with more than 70 stores, six restaurants and a food court, a 15-screen Cineplex and a regular slate of events and activities for all ages.  It has become one of the area's favorite meeting places.  In 2001 a WalMart Superstore was added to the mall complex and more stores and restaurants are planned for the near future.

Just a mile south of the mall lies Northwest Medical Center, 6200 N. La Cholla Blvd., a full service hospital offering state-of-the-art technology and care through its emergency room, urgent care and outpatient services and Arizona's first freestanding Women's Center, dedicated to the unique healthcare needs of women.  The hospital is in the middle of a $100 million expansion to meet the needs of the Northwest's growing population.  As part of the hospital campus, there are several medical office buildings housing the many doctors, dentists, chiropractors and health care practitioners who have established practices in the Casas Adobes community.

If residents are seeking first-class accommodations for out-of-town guests, they need look no further than the Omnni Tucson National Resort and Spa.  Perfectly situated in the heart of Casas Adobes, Tucson National draws guests from around the world for its famous spa services and demanding golf course, which is home to the PGA's Touchstone Energy Tucson Open every February.

While Casas Adobes' neighbors Oro Valley, Marana and Tucson continue to build new homes and shopping centers, Casas Adobes is mostly built out.  An attempt to incorporate the area failed last year and it is likely that one or all three of the neighboring cities will annex portions of the area.  But the community's roots run deep and chances are even if some homes may eventually end up in the towns of Oro Valley or Marana, if you ask the owners where they live, they'll still say Casas Adobes.

  HISTORY OF CASAS ADOBES  

Casas Adobes gets its name from a subdivision built by developer Silvio "Sam" Nanini in the 1950's.  the subdivision is the area's largest and Casas Adobes has come to mean the area of the Northwest that is north of Tucson's city limits and between the towns of Oro Valley and Marana But Nanini wasn't the first to begin living in Casas Adobes.  The area bordering the Canyon del Oro Wash and north of the Rillito River was a cattle rancher's dream. It remained most ranches and cattle until the 1920s when Tucson had grown far enough north and the advent of the automobile made the area more easily accessible. One of the first to build a home in the area was Maurice L. Reid who came to Tucson in 1923 seeking a "walking cure" for tuberculosis.  In the late 1920s Reid bought a 1,500-acrs former ranch, bounded by Oracle, Orange Grove and Ina roads and La Cholla Boulevard.  Reid planted more than 200 acres of citrus trees and date palms that became the heart of Tucson's citrus industry.  Over the years, Reid sold parcels of land for home sites and in 1950 sold the last of his land, some of which is today Ranchos Los Amigos Mobile Home Park. Just across the road, Leonie Boutall, from Tennessee, decided to build a guest ranch in the early 1930s.  The dry climate, her doctor told her, would relieve her bronchial troubles.  Boutall bought 100 acres of ranch land just

west of Oracle Road and south of a narrow dirt track now called Orange Grove Road, thanks to Reid.  Here she built rancho Nezhone, a luxury guest ranch that drew the rich and famous to the sparsely settled area far north of Tucson.  Kate Smith, Liberace, Gen. John Pershing and William "Hopalong Cassidy" Boyd were guests of this fabulous desert retreat.  Boutall sold out in 1948. Further north along Oracle road, Nanini would make his mark.  Nanini and his wife Giaconda moved to Tucson in 1948 seeking to cure Mrs. Nanini's bronchial asthma.  Beginning in the mid-1950s, the Italian born, transplanted Chicagoan developed three subdivisions on about 300 acres that became the heart of the Casas Adobes community and was considered by many to be Tucson's first suburb.  All of the homes were built with adobe, or mud, bricks. Nanini also built the Casas Adobes Shopping Center that still stands at Ina and Oracle roads.  Nanini and his son William later built the world-class Tucson National Golf Club and the million-dollar home subdivision, the Tucson National Estates. The area has continued to add subdivisions and today nearly 60,000 people call the community of Casas Adobes home. From 1997 to 2001 activists tried to incorporate the area and become Pima County's fifth incorporated town, but after a long court fight, the attempt was finally defeated in a May 2001 incorporation election.