Night owls in Downtown Phoenix will be pleased to hear that there’s a new local hangout spot that’s open all through the night to kick back at and have a few drinks.
Open 24 hours a day, The Grand Central Coffee Company wears many hats as a restaurant, bar, coffee shop, live music venue and more.
“Usually when there are lots of small establishments exhibiting a trend, the time is ripe for a larger more complex version – a grander version that is something beyond the sum of the parts,” Steven Rogers the owner, landlord and custom design artist of The Grand said. “That is why I call this establishment ‘The Grand,’ because it is more than a coffee shop, a bar, a restaurant, an event space. It is a magical space where you gather with friends – or if alone, you just gather your thoughts.”
Rogers has owned the property The Grand is located on since 1996. The space is located at Central Avenue and McKinley Street, near the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus and next to the Westward Ho.
Over the years, Rogers has filled this space with a range of clubs and other restaurants like Crowbar, Club Palazzo, World, and Amsterdam, as well as the Grand Ballroom and Club DWNTWN — which are both still open.
“(Rogers) wanted a space for people — from all different walks of life and different paths of life, to be able to have an amazing place they can call home,” said Sean Lopez, who works the social media, stage and event booking for The Grand through promotion company Synergistic Studios.
Since its soft open in June, The Grand has been under construction building an outdoor stage, additional rooms with steampunk architecture, a prepackaged food market, multiple bars and a comfort food-based menu. Now with most of its projects complete, The Grand is officially open 24 hours, seven days a week.
The Grand has separate menus for breakfast, lunch/dinner and small snacks along with beer, wine, cocktails, coffee and tea. Food and non-alcoholic beverages are served 24 hours but the bar closes at 2 a.m., Lopez said.
Rogers was inspired by Lux Central, a local coffee shop, to open The Grand 24 hours, seven days a week. Lux, is open until 2 a.m. on weekends and until midnight on weekdays.
Every time Rogers went there, he saw a majority of customers occupied with homework and other outside projects on their laptops, so he wanted to make sure The Grand provided enough study space.
But, Rogers wanted The Grand to welcome party-goers. He said that when you walk into a bar at night, you don’t want to only see people on their laptops. This was a factor in creating “Sanctum,” a speakeasy that customers can rent out for private events.
The structure of The Grand engulfs a large space with twist and turns. The kitchen rests at the heart of the first floor between the bar, coffee counter and The Grand Market. An arrow above the staircase points in the direction of “STUDY” where students can occupy the couches, two-person tables, or a community table with spare electrical outlets to recharge.
Surrounding the outside part of the building is even more seating and entertainment. The opposite side of the bar opens up to a long window for outside bar stools next to the stage. They will be installing misters as the summer days heat up.
Shelby Clark, an administrative assistant for the Translational Genomics Research Institute, first came to The Grand with a friend about three months ago. Sitting with coworkers on the first floor and sipping one of her favorite items on the menu, the chai latte, which Clark swears by.
“I think (The Grand) fits culturally in downtown,” Clark said. “I think it’s a really good location because you pull from ASU downtown, but it’s not so far that you can’t get people from midtown, or even from the corporate downtown area.”
Lopez says their final projects include completing The Grand Market — which sells prepackaged healthier options like spaghetti squash and hummus — and the upstairs speakeasy venue, Sanctum. At the second story past the study spot, there is a thin hallway leading to this room.
The Sanctum was originally an extension of the study space. But Rogers noticed how some customers would occupy the back upstairs study area for long hours and not buy anything. In turn, Rogers left the front portion upstairs for study and blocked off the back half for private parties.
Once the Sanctum opens, there will be a private bartender and other planned festivities. But to enter, customers will have to ring a doorbell by reaching in the mouth of a crow figurine. A doorman will then answer the door requesting a password.
“If you don’t know the password for your group’s event, you don’t get in,” Lopez said.
After owning the property for over a decade, Rogers made the decision to get a closer look at the growth of his ideas. Through the years, there have been multiple nightclubs and bars in this space. But Lopez says The Grand is different “because the other spaces were Steven’s attempt at owning the business ideas (while) other people ran the businesses and he would just be the landlord.”
Rogers owned and operated businesses on that property from Crowbar to Amsterdam. For a brief time period, he wasn’t as involved with the business but still served as the landlord of the property. Now, Rogers is both the landlord and business owner.
In Rogers’ career, he has noticed how small businesses transform the way people socialize with evolve trends like technology and social media.
He wants The Grand to develop into a long lasting business by using his background in nightclubs and entrepreneurship.
“(This) really prepared me to look ahead to the next big trend. But to have longevity, an entrepreneur must analyze the forces behind the trend to take it to its next evolution, not merely copy the present trend,” he said.
