Downtown's tallest building is opening its doors to occupants this week at the first of Scottsdale Waterfront's twin 13-story condominium towers. Last week, developers showed off parts of the 143-foot western tower along the northern side of the Arizona Canal, southwest of Camelback and Scottsdale roads.

With its height, location and lofty prices, the $240 million Scottsdale Waterfront Residences is the downtown redevelopment's most prominent landmark. Views of the city will change remarkably when penthouses are lighted at night. Residents, too, especially those lucky enough to sun themselves on decks alongside the rooftop pool, will enjoy exceptional views.

When both towers are completed this summer, it will bring hundreds of occupants to 198 luxury condos. Those buyers paid an average of $1.2 million for their residential perches above a new urban scene in Scottsdale. The buy-in for the three remaining units starts at $1.7 million.

Scottsdale Waterfront and Optima Camelview condos, bracketing Scottsdale Fashion Square, along with hundreds of other luxury condos opening downtown, will create a completely new tier of residential living.

The next challenges for Scottsdale are to provide convenient services downtown and to enhance pedestrian flow in the city. The paradox is that new residents cannot walk to a market as redevelopment and soaring land prices have pushed out grocery stores and gasoline stations.

Of course, downtown's restaurateurs are banking on new residents shunning grocery stores and dining with them.

The Waterfront's two condo towers are being built by a partnership of OWR Development, an affiliate of Opus West Corp., and Geoffrey Edmunds, who is known for luxury single-family homes in the northeast Valley.

The developers broke ground for the western tower two years ago. Completion of the eastern tower is expected in the second quarter.

It is the final component of the long-awaited 1 million-square-foot project on the Waterfront.