The process of designing the project that will include Arizona’s tallest building has been intricate, the developer said, creating a cohesive project that will set the tone of how downtown Phoenix has evolved.
“We are making sure we really get this right,” Geoffrey Jacobs, managing partner of Aspirant Development, said. “It’s really transformative for downtown, and what downtown is becoming.”
Aspirant Development, an arm of Scottsdale-based Empire Group, is the developer of Arro, a 1.8 million-square-foot project planned for two acres at Second Avenue and Van Buren Street in downtown Phoenix. The project will include two towers, one of which will be the tallest building in the state. The project has been in the works for several years, after receiving zoning approval from Phoenix in 2023.
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Jacobs said the design work on the project has taken about 18 months to make sure the building’s architecture and mix of uses are appropriate for what downtown needs.
“We want this to be the next evolution of what is being delivered,” Jacobs said. “This is the type of project that downtowns now need.”
The project includes apartments, co-living spaces, a hotel, restaurants and office spaces. It will have 380 traditional apartment units and 275 co-living units, which will be rented by the bedroom instead of by the unit.
Jacobs said there is a shortage of hotel rooms downtown in general, but especially a shortage of high-end hotels. Arro’s hotel will be called the Optimist, and will have a brand flag, but the brand has not yet been announced.
Aspirant will partner with Valley-based restaurant group Pretty Decent Concepts, the creator of Wren & Wolf, Cleaverman Steakhouse, Chico Malo and other Valley restaurants, to create a multilevel restaurant project that could include a restaurant and nightlife venue. The project will have additional restaurant space on the ground floor.
Having Pretty Decent Concepts sign on to the project early has been a boost to the development, Jacobs said.
“They are going to be here, with a truly one-of-a-kind experience at the tallest building in the city,” Jacobs said. “What they are doing at the top of the tower is going to filter through the rest of the building.”
It will also include 150,000 square feet of office space.
“Good, Class A, highly amenitized office, even in a market that is sort of flat, is still doing well,” Jacobs said.
The development is expected to receive permits near the end of 2026, with about a three-year construction period to follow.
Projects underway throughout the Valley
Along with Arro, Aspirant Development has several other large-scale projects in the works around the Valley.
At Central Avenue and McDowell Road, construction will start in early May on the Whitney, a 24-story mixed-use building that will include 328 apartment units and about 20,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, Jacobs said.
That project will take about two years to complete construction, he said.
In Tempe, Aspirant will break ground this summer on a project called Revelry, at Rural Road and University Drive. The project will be traditional, market rate apartments, and will include two towers, totaling 533 units.
The towers will reach 17 and 15 stories, and the project will have high-end amenities like bowling alleys, pickleball courts, and two different rooftop experiences, one focused on games and sports and one focused on wellness.
Jacobs said he expects the project to be attractive to students and young professionals in Tempe, and will have podcast rooms, conference space and two floors of workout facilities. That project will also take about two years to build.
Aspirant recently marked the “topping out” of a project in Old Town Scottsdale, a construction milestone meaning the last beam was placed on a project. That development, called the Monroe, will be a high-end senior living development with two towers, one for active adult living and one assisted living and memory care. The project has already begun pre-leasing and is about a year away from completing construction, Jacobs said.
“We are vastly undersupplied with really nice senior housing,” he said.
That project has retail space on the ground floor, and so far has generated interest from businesses in fitness and wellness but could also add a restaurant, Jacobs said.
Reporting by Corina Vanek, Arizona Republic
