Restaurant concepts from popular local chefs announced plans to move into the a prominent building, currently under renovations and part of an upcoming reuse project, on a popular corner in Downtown Phoenix’s Roosevelt Row Art’s District.

Aaron Chamberlin, the restauranteur behind Phoenix Public Market Café and St. Francis, is planning to open up a new restaurant concept on Roosevelt Row this spring. John Sagasta, who has worked on popular Roosevelt Row places like Jobot, Melt and the former Flowers Craft Beer  & Wine, is also planning to bring his restaurant concept to the Art’s District in the fall.

Downtown Phoenix
A photo of the Flowers building on Fifth and Roosevelt Streets taken in May, 2016. (Photo by Samantha Pouls)

Both restauranteurs are opening up their concepts at The Blocks of Roosevelt Row project, which is an adaptive reuse project involving the popular Flowers building on the Southeast corner of Fifth and Roosevelt Streets.

“We’ve had the Phoenix Public Market Cafe in downtown for three years now, and I’ve lived in and been involved in downtown for the past 10 years. We know what a special project this is and we look forward to continuing to feed the downtown community,” Chamberlin stated.

Arizona-based Desert Viking Development is the developer behind The Blocks of Roosevelt Row project, and plans to finish Phase I in the Spring and Phase II in the fall. Chamberlin’s concept will be part of the first phase and Sagasta’s concept will be part of the second phase.

The Blocks of Roosevelt Row is an adaptive reuse project of three bungalow-style homes, the Flowers building and construction of a new three-story commercial building on the corner.

The bungalows were originally constructed in the 1900s and will be expanded and renovated. The new commercial building will be a market-style retail space catering to the art’s community in the area.

Phoenix-based architectural firm AV3 Design Studios was behind the master plan for the project, and leads the design of the Fifth and Roosevelt Streets properties. Lightvox Studios heads the parts of the project closest to Sixth Street.

AV3 is in charge of the renovations of the Flowers building as part of Phase I, and architecture and construction firm Form Third leads Phase II of the project.

Venture REI is in charge of leasing for the project.