Article originally posted in AZ Central on Nov. 9, 2026.

A $70 million development that will include an apartment tower and the preservation of historic buildings near Roosevelt Row in downtown Phoenix began construction.

The development will consist of a 12-story apartment tower called Sisu and the rehabilitation and reuse of several buildings. Among those is the 116-year-old Stoddard-Harmon House, which will be converted into a restaurant. The project, located at First Avenue and McKinley Street, is being developed by Intersection Development, which owns most of the city block, except for the Stewart apartment tower.

Intersection Development plans to eventually link the project to others it owns on the block, including the future Atari Hotel, with a pedestrian path through the existing alley. The path will be called “Fascination Street.”

The Stoddard-Harmon House and other bungalow-style buildings on the site will be reused as restaurants. That project is called Arcada, and the restaurants will be operated by Clive Collective.

Zac Cohen, co-founder of Intersection Development, said the project has been in the works for years, and he originally had other plans for reusing the historic buildings. But after listening to what neighbors wanted to see, the plan adapted.

“It’s not just a restaurant, but a series of restaurants,” he said. “It was a no-brainer once we thought it through and talked to the community. We are happy to save them and have them contribute to the neighborhood in a new way.”

The Stoddard-Harmon House will be a restaurant called Ada, after Ada Van Sant Stoddard, a prominent figure in Phoenix’s high society.

The restaurant will be “seafood-driven,” Mikis Troyan, managing partner and co-founder of Clive Collective, said. It will have a coastal flair, and most of the seating will be outdoors on a wraparound patio. The group plans to plant a large hedge around it to make it feel cozy, he said.

The other restaurants and bars will be Love Call, which Troyan described as a “cool neighborhood bar, not super fancy, approachable, a little sexy.”

Kuza Tori will be a sushi handroll bar inspired by Tokyo alleys. The venues will be connected by a 3,500-square-foot outdoor dining area and lounge space called Mode.

Clive Collective will move its headquarters to a building on the site and open a shared kitchen, called Clive Kitchen.

Sisu, the apartment project, will be built on an existing surface parking lot and will include 125 apartment units. It will also feature ground-floor retail, restaurant and office space. The building design was inspired by Nordic architecture, and the pool and amenity deck will include a Finnish-style sauna, Cohen said.

Intersection is also the developer of the Atari Hotel, which will be north of the Hardware Store building. The Hardware Store serves as Intersection’s office, and includes Barcoa Agaveria. Cohen said developing most of the block with a cohesive vision allows the company to highlight the history, like the historic homes, and future of Phoenix, with Sisu and the Atari Hotel.

“You can go from the past to the future in one city block,” he said.

Cohen said he believes neighborhoods should include varying building heights and varying use types.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said the development is the type of project the city wants to see.

“It protects our history with new, modern investments,” she said.

Phoenix needs cool spaces and new investments to keep the area vibrant, she said.

“In downtown, we want a really interesting streetscape,” she said, adding that it is more complicated to create an infill project downtown, but important to making the best use of the land, and resources like the light rail, which runs adjacent to the project.

Cohen said Arcada, the restaurant portion of the project, is expected to complete renovations in mid-2027, and Sisu, the apartment tower, will open in mid-2028.