Meet Anthony Salcito, the Luxury Homebuilder Who Has Crafted Some of the Valley’s Most Alluring Dream Homes
2023 MASTERS of the SOUTHWEST Award Winner - Anthony Salcito
Prolific luxury homebuilder Anthony Salcito has been crafting some of the Valley’s most elegant private estates for the past 30 year.
By Lauren Tyda | Portrait by Carl Schultz
If you have ever passed a $10 million-plus estate in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley or Silverleaf, chances are Anthony Salcito has had a hand in its creation.
As though mapping his favorite constellation, the builder references an aerial view of the neighborhoods where he has constructed luxury homes. “See this,” he says, pointing to one of the properties on his computer screen. “This is a house we have under construction.” He traces his finger toward several others. “This is a house I built 15 years ago; this one five years ago.” And it goes on.
The design virtuoso was in the industry before he was old enough to drive. His father, Tony Salcito Sr., who launched the family business back in 1978, would drop his young son off at job sites and pick him up at sundown—covered with the dirt and grit of a hard day’s work. “Those were my weekends when I was a kid,” the younger Salcito recalls. “For as long as I can remember, I would work on my dad’s projects, for the most part, cleaning up and doing minor tasks, but I loved it.”
Passions for drawing and art compelled Salcito to pursue a major in architecture at ASU, but the young dynamo was impatient to begin working and decided to pursue a business degree instead. “I thought it would be a quicker route for me, so I could get out of school and get started,” he says. “I knew I wanted to take my parents’ business to the next level.”
In 1993, he began full-time at Salcito Custom Homes, building estates for luxury clientele from around the world. He became known for his ability to balance large-scale projects—especially complicated hillside construction—with ease and precision.
“Anthony is not only a very detailed and caring builder, but also very talented at architectural sketching,” says architect, longtime friend and fellow Phoenix Home & Garden Master of the Southwest Erik Peterson. “I have seen him whip out a Sharpie many times in a client meeting and start sketching a plan or elevation equal to any architect.”
In the early 2000s, Salcito had an epiphany about how to expand the company’s footprint. “Many of the houses we were building were second and third homes, and one day somebody said, ‘Hey, can you take care of this house for me while I’m away? That’s when I kicked off our concierge business.”
In addition to a full-service interior design firm headed by his wife, Rebecca, Salcito now offers an extensive menu of lifestyle management and home maintenance-related services.
“We build these masterpieces,” says landscape architect and Masters honoree Jeff Berghoff, “and Anthony realized early on that we need to do more than build just them—we need to maintain them. He was one of the first to do this, and it was a brilliant.”
Interior designer David Michael Miller, also a Master of the Southwest, says Salcito’s can-do attitude and ability to speak the language of multiple design disciplines set him apart. “A familiar phrase from Anthony is, ‘Tell us what you want, and we will make it happen,’” he states. “We designers can make builders a little crazy at times, but he has a significant capacity mentally and is highly effective in getting the job done.”
To date, Salcito has built more than 300 homes—and is currently working on several hillside residential jobs in Northern Arizona, Paradise Valley and Scottsdale.
“There isn’t a day he doesn’t know the details of any one of the projects,” says architect and Master of the Southwest Dale Gardon, who has worked with Salcito for almost 30 years. “He is serious about all the details but appreciates humor at the right times and is incredibly dedicated to his work and family.”
“Anthony has a unique makeup as a general contractor, in that he has a strong sense of style himself, not to mention very solid architectural instincts.”
—David Michael Miller, interior designer
When he is not traveling from job site to job site or meeting with clients, the self-proclaimed golf and fitness enthusiast and his wife enjoy spending time with their two teenage sons and pair of rescue dogs, Rambo and Juliet.
Asked what his ideal project would be, he pauses and smiles wryly. “I can’t really think of one,” he remarks. “I mean, look at these houses. They’re truly unbelievable works of art, dream homes in every sense of the word. I don’t think it gets any better than this.”
“Part of why Anthony can do things so fast and so well is because he has a great team behind him—and everyone is motivated to win.”
—Jeff Berghoff, landscape designer
SOURCES
Builder: Anthony Salcito, Salcito Design Group, Scottsdale, salcito.com.
PAGES 166-167—Architect: Dale Gardon, Dale Gardon Design, Scottsdale, dalegardondesign.com.
PAGE 169—Architect: Erik Peterson, PHX Architecture, Scottsdale, phxarch.com. Landscape designer: Jeff Berghoff, Berghoff Design Group, Phoenix, berghoffdesign.com.
PAGES 170-171—Architect: phxarch.com.
PAGES 172-173—Architect: Integrated Design, Scottsdale, idarchitecturestudio.com. Landscape designer: berghoffdesign.com.
PAGES 174, kitchen—Interior designer: Rebecca Salcito, salcito.com.
PAGE 175— Architect: dalegardondesign.com.
PAGES 176-177, arrival court—Architect: dalegardondesign.com. Interior designer: Arcadia Design Group, Phoenix, adgphx.com. Landscape designer: berghoffdesign.com.Architect: dalegardondesign.com. Interior designer: Arcadia Design Group, Phoenix, adgphx.com. Landscape designer: berghoffdesign.com.
PAGES 176-177— Architect: phxarch.com.
