‘First-of-its-kind, gaming hotel’ making world debut in Phoenix

The developer bringing Mario Kart apartments to Roosevelt Row has another video game-themed landmark planned for the downtown Phoenix art district.

The world’s first Atari Hotel will debut in Phoenix, including rooms, restaurants and event spaces inspired by classic video games. Developers received permission to use the Atari brand from the gaming pioneers responsible for Pong, Asteroids and Centipede, among many others.

“Atari Hotel is a first-of-its-kind, gaming-forward experience that will redefine what a hotel can be,” said Sarah Doyle, director of communications for Visit Phoenix. “As Phoenix continues to establish itself as a leading tech hub, this groundbreaking concept aligns perfectly with the city’s culture of innovation.”

Construction on the $125 million hotel hasn’t started yet, but Jordan Taylor, co-founder of Atari Hotels and Intersection Development, said it could begin as soon as late 2026. That would put the hotel on track for a late 2028 debut.

Taylor’s team considered a location for an Atari Hotel in Las Vegas, but those plans were canceled, and they turned their focus to opening in Phoenix instead. Other locations could open in the future, he said.

Where is Atari Hotel?

Atari Hotel will be at 840 N. Central Ave. in downtown Phoenix’s Roosevelt Row Arts District. The hotel will occupy 46,000 square feet of land that Taylor’s group purchased in December 2023.

It will be about a half-mile from Rainbow Road Apartments, inspired by the famous psychedelic track in the Mario Kart games, located at the intersection of North First and East Portland streets.

Taylor’s company, Intersection Development, which will develop the Atari Hotel, was also involved in the development of Rainbow Road Apartments. The 36-unit complex opened recently and is more than 25% occupied, Taylor said.

What’s in the Atari Hotel in Phoenix?

Atari Hotel’s offering statement to investors, filed in December 2025 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, included details about the hotel and photo renderings showing what it will look like when completed.

The hotel will have 91 rooms, including 19 suites. The breakdown of the types of rooms — 19 suites and 72 rooms — was an intentional nod to 1972, the year Atari was founded, Taylor said.

The Phoenix Atari Hotel will include two floors of restaurants, with documents suggesting casual dining, fine dining, pool bars and “immersive” drinking and dining options based on Atari’s games. Taylor said one of the hotel’s restaurants would be like “a steakhouse in ‘The Matrix’,” and there would be an adults-only speakeasy called Rated M, whose name is inspired by the video game rating equivalent to the R rating for movies.

There will also be a sports and gaming viewing lounge, plus gift shops and merchandise stalls selling souvenirs, clothing, collectibles and games.

One of Atari Hotel’s key features is a multipurpose venue that will host gaming events, esports competitions, meet and greets with gaming streamers and concerts from electronic dance music artists. Taylor suggested Vegas-style residencies with streamers would be possible.

The goal of having events at the hotel is to draw locals who want to experience the hotel without booking a stay, he said.

Where is the Atari Hotel in Las Vegas?

Plans for an Atari Hotel in Las Vegas were scrapped because of issues with the site they were considering, Taylor said.

Atari Hotels confirmed in January that the Vegas project was canceled, meaning Phoenix will get the world’s first Atari Hotel.

“The original announcement was in Phoenix,” Taylor said. “We have since moved on from that location (in Las Vegas) and focused on bringing that energy to our own backyard.”

He left the possibility open for Atari Hotels in Vegas and other cities in the future.

Is the Atari Hotel still being built?

Construction hasn’t started on the Atari Hotel in Phoenix, but it’s scheduled to begin near the end of 2026, Taylor said.

Photo renderings of the hotel show windows shaped like Tetris blocks and a red three-pronged ornament along the main tower designed to resemble the Atari logo.

Other renderings show a row of arcade games and displays of characters from games like Missile Command in the lobby and a gaming setup with multiple TV screens in a guest room.

Taylor thinks that Phoenix’s embrace of technology and innovation — evident in part through a semiconductor industry that helped pave the way for Phoenix to get two nonstop Taiwan flight routes — makes an Atari-themed hotel a good fit for the city.

“We loved the idea of bringing (Atari) into a physical space and hotel-type environment,” he said.

What is Atari?

Atari was founded in 1972 and heavily influenced the modern video game industry. It developed both the first commercially successful video game, the two-dimensional table tennis simulator Pong, and the first home video game console, the Atari 2600. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak worked on Breakout for Atari before co-founding Apple.

The company’s most successful game was 1979’s Asteroids, where players control a spaceship navigating an asteroid field. It was competitive with Midway Games’ massive hit Space Invaders upon its release.

Atari has also published popular games from other companies, such as Namco’s Pac-Man and Midway’s Mortal Kombat.

Reporting by Michael Salerno, Arizona Republic

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