Faith Burton bought some of her first formal outfits at the Arizona Center when she was a kid. Now, as the director of special projects for Presson Corporation, the owner of the center, she has been tasked with breathing new life into what was once a signature development in downtown Phoenix.

“It is really important for us to get the fit right for the tenants,” Burton said of choosing which businesses to lease space to in the Arizona Center. “We are being very selective and intentional, we want them to be here for the long term, we want to grow up with them.”

Presson Corporation, led by Burton’s father, Daryl Burton, bought most of the largely vacant Arizona Center in mid-2023 for $27 million, according to real estate database Vizzda. The purchase included the retail space and one office tower on the site. The movie theater, apartment tower, hotel and second office tower have separate ownership.

While buying the site at Van Buren and Third streets, Burton said her family wanted to keep three things in mind: leasing locally, recommitting to art and being a commercial hub for community programming.

Community programming started almost immediately, she said. The center hosts dozens of community events, like a family-friendly First Friday, a monthly play day for young children with bouncy castles, yoga classes and other events to reacquaint people with the Arizona Center.

The center's previous owner had done a lot of work modernizing the space, Burton said. But momentum was lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, Presson Corporation is working to finish the last pieces of modernizing the common areas and leasing the space to new restaurants and stores.

Adding murals and new lighting throughout the site aims to create a welcoming, "whimsical" environment, she said. More art pieces will be installed throughout the site for "photo moments" and places visitors can enjoy.

Steakhouse, high-end Mexican restaurant coming

One of the center’s most prominent restaurant spaces, which was formerly occupied by Hooters, was leased by Phoenix-based Pretty Decent Concepts, which also operates Chico Malo and Wren & Wolf downtown.

The restaurant space will be divided into three different concepts. The largest, called Cleaverman, will be a steakhouse that occupies most of the space. The group expanded the footprint of the vacated restaurant space to give it a different feel and set it apart from the former Hooters, Burton said.

The second concept, called Uppercut, will be a fine dining concept with a tasting menu format. The third piece, called Filthy, will be a martini lounge and cocktail bar.

The restaurants are all under construction, with openings expected in mid- to late 2025.

“The presence on Third Street will have more signage and art like we are reintroducing the Arizona Center,” Burton said. “We are redefining Third and Van Buren, which is a pretty pivotal corner in downtown.”

Another restaurant space under construction is called Origen, planned to be an upscale Mexican concept from Merida in the Yucatan Peninsula. The restaurant’s owner, Eduardo Medina, said the Burtons visited his restaurants in Merida, liked the concepts, and offered a restaurant space facing the internal park at the center. Medina is also opening a restaurant in Gilbert.

“I’m so happy to be part of the rebirth of this area,” Medina said.

He said the location, within easy walking distance to several hotels, the Phoenix Convention Center and Arizona State University, created a desirable atmosphere to open the restaurant.

“The Burton family really wants to find different concepts,” Medina said. “They care more about people and less about the bigger chains. We have the same values and customs, even from two different countries.”

Pizza shop, retail stores, pop-up roller rink already open

Some new tenants have already opened.

Dough Boy Pizza Co., a pizza and wing fast-casual restaurant, is open in the center. It is the first Arizona location for the restaurant, opened by franchise owner Rhea Williams.

Diann Williams, Rhea’s mother, also works with her in the restaurant and said it is a great opportunity to work with her grandchildren.

“I love working with the public,” she said. “We meet so many interesting people here, it feels like an upbeat, upscale, happy area.”

Suits at Keystone, a menswear store, opened in the center in October , selling suits and professional menswear.

Tenants in the center have also included extended-term pop-ups, like a Jiu Jitsu gym that is open in a temporary space in the center, a roller rink and a spin cycling gym that will open in March, Burton said.

The goal of many of the pop-ups is to help a small business transition from an idea into a functional concept and potentially help them find a permanent space, Burton said.

Burton said the center has a large crossover of demographics, with many patrons coming from ASU every day, and people attending conventions or events downtown.

The Arizona Center has a two-acre central park space with a water feature and lawn for activities, and Burton said it has been important for her family to create a safe downtown space for people to stay and enjoy.

“We want this to be a place where people can come and stay,” she said.

To accommodate lingering patrons, the center has free public Wi-Fi for students who want to do homework in the park space, shaded furniture and tabletops featuring work by local artists.

Burton said there are plans to add larger tables to accommodate bigger groups and to install a large-scale shade structure on part of the open space that could be used by some of their future tenants.

ASU taking office, classroom space

Arizona State University is leasing 94,000 square feet of space on the second and third levels of the center to be used for classroom and office space.

The space will be used by Barrett, The Honors College; the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions as well as other parts of the university, Burton said. The spaces are under construction and the university is expecting to move in during the summer.

The purchase of the center included one of the office towers on the site. Burton said her family is still doing due diligence and deciding what the future of the office tower will be, but she said tenants have been moving out of the tower to prepare for what will come next.

“Right now, I’m putting my time and energy into the retail space, because how this goes will determine the future of the office tower,” she said.

Coffee shop, wellness concepts still to come

On the retail side, Burton said it will be important to get a coffee shop concept open in the center and to make sure it’s done right. They are also looking to add more health and wellness components to the site, like some of the pop-ups they have introduced.

She’d also like to expand entertainment offerings because the demand for community events at the center has been so high. Often, families come to every event they hold, and some drive from other cities to take part in the activities.

“We are now at a critical mass in downtown. We need to have this presence at the Arizona Center,” she said.

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