Some business owners are attracted to high-rises, others to foothills.

Sandy Blackwell falls into the latter category. The Ahwatukee Foothills woman used to run her Web-design firm, SnR Designs, at the Viad Tower in downtown Phoenix.

Fed up with the commute and the cost of rent, she moved her company to Ahwatukee and she is not alone.

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Ahwatukee is luring business people out of the big city and into the community of an estimated 90,000.

They relocate for the small-town atmosphere, lower business costs and beautiful scenery.

"I had always thought you need to be at the center of things," Blackwell said. "But we all talked about it and decided to take what we thought would be a big risk. It ended up to be a great move - we didn't lose business because of it."

Tom Sexton, owner of Sexton Painting, also heard the foothills' siren call. The 70-year-old moved to Ahwatukee and brought the business with him after more than 20 years of living and working in central Phoenix.

For him, Ahwatukee's small-town atmosphere and affluent clientele were the biggest attractions. "Overall, it's just so much more pleasant to work here," he said. "The difference in painting in Ahwatukee is the people in Ahwatukee talk to each other and your name gets out."

Since moving the business, Sexton said more than 50 percent of his jobs come from referrals.

Sexton decided to move the business for practical reasons. Homes in central Phoenix are older and more difficult to paint. And there is more competition from undocumented immigrants there, he said.

Sexton was a painter in another big city, Chicago, before sunny weather lured him to Phoenix.

Climate was a big factor for twin brothers Garrett and Nicholas Athenas, 25, who relocated Turbo Twins Mobile Car Cleaning to Ahwatukee from Long Island in February. They packed up their business and belongings on a snowy New York day and drove to sunny Ahwatukee.

Garrett was drawn to Ahwatukee after he attended a relative's wedding at the Pointe South Mountain Resort.

"I thought it was the most beautiful place," he said.

Ahwatukee is more transient than larger, established communities, Garrett said. Because of that, continuous networking is crucial.

Sexton said he misses only the nightlife in Phoenix, where there are numerous places to unwind after work.

Blackwell said she does not miss a thing about the high-rises. She outfitted her employees with laptops so they could work from home and rents conference space in Ahwatukee for regular staff meetings. That cut her rent from $1,800 a month to $100 an hour.

She saves time and money by skipping the busy commute. Her dry-cleaning bill isn't nearly what it used to be. And productivity is way up.

"I really realized I wanted to have more of a sense of community," she said. "Ahwatukee is supposed to be about live, work, play. We wanted our business to be here."