The corner of Scottsdale Road and Loop 101 was approved in 2002 as a "retail-based mixed-use core." Why did it take until the fall of 2026 for a real sit-down restaurant to get a construction timeline?
The Arizona Republic reported on Oct. 21 that One Scottsdale, DMB Associates' roughly $1 billion development north of the freeway, is getting a hotel, two high-end restaurants and more luxury condos. The new projects are news. The order they're arriving in says more. The site was planned around commerce, but the households came first, and the restaurants and hotels are following them. Office space will come last, and only if tenants commit before anything is built.
What's Going Up, in the Order It Arrives
DMB's Michael Burke told the Republic that Anish Hotels Group has received permits for a 157-room Marriott Tribute Portfolio hotel called the Dowe. Construction was expected to start by the end of October, and the build takes about 18 to 20 months. No opening date has been announced.
Belgravia Group, which builds the condos at One Scottsdale, is also planning two restaurants. Its chairman, Alan Lev, told the Republic that the names haven't been released and that both will come from operators outside Arizona. One is planned as a modern, high-end Greek restaurant and the other as a European breakfast-and-lunch spot.
Here is the published schedule, counted from the Oct. 21 report:
- Atavia condos, Belgravia's second phase: about 60% sold, with completion expected by the end of 2026. Portico, the first phase, is sold out.
- The Dowe hotel: construction was set to begin by the end of October 2026. An 18-to-20-month build would put completion around the spring of 2028, though that is an estimate, not an announced opening.
- The two restaurants: construction expected within six months, which points to roughly April 2027.
- MAA's 280-unit apartment complex: under construction and expected to finish in about a year, or around late 2027.
- Belgravia's third condo phase: two buildings with 98 units, breaking ground in 2027.
These sit next to what's already open. The Home2 Suites, a four-story, 130-room hotel near the north end of the site, opened in 2023. Just south of Thompson Peak Parkway, Ryan Cos. built a two-story, 101,000-square-foot medical office building that houses City of Hope Cancer Center and Exalt Health. Ryan Cos. is in escrow to buy more land for another phase.
A Plan Written for Shoppers and Office Workers
The original approval, as recounted in the planning request that Scottsdale Progress covered this spring, allowed about 1.8 million square feet of commercial, office and retail space, 400 hotel rooms and up to 1,100 homes. The housing allowance has grown through every revision since, and the commercial allowance has shrunk.
| Year | What the city approved or was asked for | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | About 1.8M sq ft of commercial, office and retail; 400 hotel rooms; up to 1,100 homes | Commerce-led |
| 2016 | 900 more homes and heights up to 90 feet in some areas; DMB asked for 2,500 units, and the council capped apartments and condos at 2,000 | Toward housing |
| Dec. 2023 | DMB filed to add 500 apartments in exchange for commercial space | Toward housing |
| June 2026 | 350 for-sale homes added and 1,372,145 sq ft of nonresidential space cut south of Legacy Boulevard | Toward housing, for-sale only |
Burke told the Progress that 200 condos and 1,304 apartments had been built or were under construction. That's about 1,500 households on land first planned around retail. One North Scottsdale and Avion at Legacy, the apartment communities, already sit beside the Illume corporate campus.
The 2023 version got a cool reception. At a DMB meeting on Nov. 29, 2023, at the Boys and Girls Club in Thompson Peak Park, one Grayhawk neighbor told the Progress, "I think it stinks." The revised plan cut the added homes from 500 apartments to 350 for-sale units and dropped about 1.4 million square feet of nonresidential space. At the May 13 Planning Commission meeting, the developer's attorney called it "a request for less development than otherwise could be built today." The only public speaker, a longtime Grayhawk resident, spoke in support.
The Planning Commission voted 7–0 to recommend the plan, and the City Council approved case 20-ZN-2002#5 7–0 on June 9, 2026. The council agenda lists the action as Ordinance No. 4703 and a development agreement covering a roughly 27-acre part of the site, with addresses including 19601 N. Scottsdale Road. The developer's case to the commission was that homes on that land would use less water and generate less traffic than the commercial buildings already allowed there.
Why the Offices Come Last
This is why restaurants are arriving now. A restaurant operator signs a lease where there are already enough people nearby to fill its tables on a weeknight, and that crowd now lives on the site. A broker representing One Scottsdale told the Republic there is pent-up demand for restaurants north of Loop 101 and called the area underserved.
Offices work the other way. Burke said the plan has room for 150,000 to 350,000 square feet of office space, but DMB won't build any of it on speculation. Businesses have to sign leases before construction starts. Even the high end of that range is less than a fifth of the 1.8 million square feet of commercial space approved in 2002. Another broker on the project told the Republic that offices have been the hardest piece to land. In his view, the restaurants and hotels moving in could be what finally draws office tenants, since workers would have places to eat and stay nearby.
That reverses the 2002 sequence. That plan pictured shops and offices bringing people to the corner. What's happening instead is that the residents came first, the restaurants are following them, and the offices are now expected to follow the restaurants.
The 13 Acres Still Open on Scottsdale Road
The last open land is about 13 acres along Scottsdale Road. Burke said DMB is working on deals for more restaurants, another hotel, senior living and offices there, and that the final hotel would be high-end or luxury.
The hotel count shows how far along the site is. The 2002 approval allowed 400 hotel rooms. Home2 Suites has 130 and the Dowe will add 157, for 287 rooms, with one more hotel still planned. Hotels are the part of the original plan that is filling in close to its first design. Office space is the part that isn't.
For anyone driving the site, the 2023 project narrative splits it at Legacy Boulevard. Planning Unit III runs north of Legacy to Thompson Peak Parkway, between Scottsdale Road and Grayhawk. Planning Unit II is the land south of Legacy and north of the freeway. The June 2026 cut in commercial space applies to the southern part, closest to Loop 101.
Across Scottsdale Road, the Same Pattern Is Starting
On the Phoenix side of Scottsdale Road, the Arizona Cardinals are building Paradise Ridge on 217 acres of former state land that the team bought at auction for $136 million. The team's facility and business offices take up 30 of those acres. The team broke ground on Feb. 19, 2026. It said the business offices are expected to open in 2028 and the football team will move in after training camp that year.
The rest of the Cardinals' land is planned for housing, company headquarters and an entertainment district. The first named partner is a healthcare provider, just as it was at One Scottsdale. Azfamily reported in May that Dignity Health plans an eight-acre, two-building medical campus there, with construction expected in 2027 and an opening in 2028.
At the developer's request, the 2026 One Scottsdale hearings referred to the Cardinals' land more than once. Both sides of Scottsdale Road just north of the 101 are now filling in at once, and on both sides a medical office came before any speculative office building. If the published schedules hold, 2027 brings the two restaurants, the MAA apartments and the third Belgravia condo phase, and 2028 brings the Dowe, the Dignity Health campus and the Cardinals' offices.
Our partners at ROCO Luxury Homes follow these North Scottsdale projects from approval through opening day, including how a new hotel or restaurant next door can change the homes nearby. If you live near Scottsdale Road and the 101 and want to talk about what this construction means for your own property, book a private consultation with our team.
