For 45 years, Beef Eaters Restaurant in Phoenix was the place where local power brokers cut deals, families enjoyed Sunday brunch and neighborhood folks went for a good steak and a stiff drink.

The iconic restaurant shut its doors for good in 2006 when founder Jay Newton died.

Now, the site – with its prime location along the Camelback Road-Central Avenue light rail corridor and proximity to historic residential neighborhoods – is poised to gain a second life, as a redevelopment team with a successful track record launches an ambitious plan to preserve the mid-century building at 300 W. Camelback Road and restore it to the gathering place it once was…with a twist.

Construction begins this month on The Newton, a 17,227 SF multi-tenant, mixed-use retail/dining/office and event facility scheduled to open in the fall. Led by Venue Projects, a design-centered redevelopment, investment and construction real estate practice based in Phoenix, The Newton ownership team includes the groups behind Changing Hands Bookstore, Beckett’s Table and the principal of John Douglas Architects.

The Lively Hood also has signed on as a tenant offering a variety of co-working, meeting and event options for mobile professionals, including an open work area, private offices, meeting rooms and other gathering spaces and services.

“It is our belief that beyond the debris, disrepair and aged condition, the existing property has a worthy history in the community and good architectural bones to substantiate its preservation,” said Lorenzo Perez, co-founding partner of Venue Projects. “With strategic and creative improvements, the property will reposition itself with renewed life and presence in the neighborhood.”

Initial adaptive reuse plans call for utilizing the basic structure of the existing 16,300 SF building, including its fired adobe walls, heavy timber framing and decorative items such as the original chandeliers.

Later additions to the building will be carefully removed in order to expose the mid-century modern flair of the original 1961 architecture, according to John Douglas of John Douglas Architects in Scottsdale, one of the project’s owners, who also is handling design details.

“We intend to transform the existing building and site into a state-of-the-art community gathering destination,” Douglas said. “The architecture will be based on the original 1961 vision, which is a simple modernist structure with vaulted ceilings and exposed materials. The interior will be transformed from a dark and isolated space into one that is transparent, well-lit and inviting to the public.”

In addition to answering the small, but vocal, public outcry to rescue this piece of Phoenix history, developers are confident The Newton will contribute to the vibrant urban scene emerging along the Valley Metro Light Rail line.

“The end result will be a new Old Building that will be repositioned for another 30-plus years of life cycle,” Perez said.

For more information visit TheNewtonPhx.com.