Drive the corner of Cactus Road and Tatum Boulevard on a weekday evening this September and you'll see two different projects sitting side by side. One is a parking lot that's full: cars circling for a spot near Trevor's Liquor, carts rolling out of Whole Foods, a line at Velvet Taco. The other is still gravel and rebar, the future home of Cala, the restaurant that keeps showing up in every roundup of what's coming to Paradise Valley.
That gap tells you something the coverage of this project usually skips. PV, the name RED Development gave its redevelopment of the old Paradise Valley Mall, technically sits just inside Phoenix city limits. But it functions as the commercial spine for the neighborhood around it, the place residents actually drive to for groceries, a drink, or a workout. And the part of it that's already doing that job isn't the part getting the press attention. The names generating headlines, chef-driven restaurants with national pedigrees, are still the least finished piece of the property. The corner works today because of what opened quietly first.
The Errands That Already Moved In
Whole Foods Market made the first big move, relocating from its longtime spot at Tatum and Shea to a new store inside PV in October 2024. The new location runs more than 50,000 square feet, a meaningful jump from the store it replaced after 22 years at the old address.
Flower Child was the first restaurant through the door, opening September 24, 2024, as the initial tenant in what was then a 100-acre construction site. Blanco Reserva Cocina + Cantina followed soon after, along with The Melt, Wren House Brewing Co., Federal Pizza, and Frost Gelato Shoppe, filling in through 2025 to give the property an actual food court before most of its retail even had signage up.
Trevor's Liquor took the least glamorous move and made the most of it, converting the former Sears Auto Center into a 14,000-square-foot venue with a full bar, a pizzeria, a golf simulator, a cigar lounge, and a dog-friendly patio. It's the kind of tenant that never makes a "most anticipated" list but ends up being where people actually go on a Tuesday.
Velvet Taco rounded out the group in March 2026, its second Arizona location after debuting in Old Town Scottsdale the previous November. By the time it opened, PV had already been functioning as a genuine grocery-and-dinner stop for a year and a half.
The Opening That Changes a Weekday
The tenant that shifted PV from a dinner destination to something closer to a daily routine arrived this spring. Life Time Paradise Valley opened April 30, 2026, a 91,000-square-foot athletic club with a rooftop pool deck, seven pickleball courts split between indoor and outdoor, a full-service spa, a Kids Academy, and hydrotherapy suites with sauna, steam, whirlpool, and cold plunge. Membership currently starts around $329 a month.
That's a different kind of tenant than a restaurant. A dinner reservation gets you to PV once. A pickleball league or a Tuesday morning workout gets you there every week, which is the first amenity on the property built for repeat weekday use rather than a special occasion.
Adjacent to the club, Life Time is also building an 11-story, 327-unit residential tower called Life Time Living, expected to finish in 2027. Once complete, it will connect to the club by a pedestrian bridge, meaning the newest residents of PV will be able to walk to the gym without crossing a parking lot.
What's Open, and What's Still a Construction Fence
| Business | Status | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Whole Foods Market | Open since October 2024 | Relocated from Tatum and Shea, more than 50,000 square feet |
| Flower Child | Open since September 2024 | First restaurant to open in the redevelopment |
| Trevor's Liquor | Open | 14,000 square feet in the former Sears Auto Center, with a golf simulator and dog-friendly patio |
| Velvet Taco | Open since March 2026 | Second Arizona location, after Old Town Scottsdale |
| Life Time Paradise Valley | Open since April 30, 2026 | 91,000 square feet, seven pickleball courts, rooftop pool deck |
| Cala | No confirmed opening date as of spring 2026 updates | Chef Beau MacMillan's second location, after his original Scottsdale restaurant |
| Harry & Izzy's | No confirmed opening date as of spring 2026 updates | Huse Culinary's first restaurant outside the Midwest |
| The Vig | No confirmed opening date as of spring 2026 updates | Eighth location for the tavern that started in Arcadia |
| Too Sweet Cakes | No confirmed opening date as of spring 2026 updates | First brick-and-mortar for the Bend, Oregon-founded bakery |
Why the Marquee Names Keep Slipping
None of this means the four names above are in trouble. Restaurant buildouts, especially ones with custom interiors, tend to finish last in a retail sequence like this one, after the anchor grocery store, the standardized fast-casual boxes, and the utility tenants like a liquor store or a gym. Cala's second location is coming from chef Beau MacMillan, who opened the original inside Scottsdale's Senna House Hotel in 2022. Harry & Izzy's will be the first restaurant its parent company, Indianapolis-based Huse Culinary, has opened outside the Midwest, a sister concept to the century-old St. Elmo Steak House. The Vig is bringing its eighth Valley location, and Too Sweet Cakes is turning a local pop-up bakery into its first storefront. Each of these is a bigger commitment than a fast-casual lease, and each one takes longer to build out than a taco counter.
The pattern is worth knowing if you've been reading about PV for two years and assumed it was still mostly a plan. It isn't. The plan finished its first phase. The second phase, the one with the recognizable chef names, is simply the part that was always going to take longer.
The Rest of the Block Is Still Being Built Around Them
PV's growth doesn't stop at restaurants. Fender Musical Instruments Corp. is relocating its headquarters to the property, part of the office space RED Development has folded into the retail and dining mix. AVE Paradise Valley, a 400-unit apartment community, started leasing in fall 2024 and now puts several hundred residents within walking distance of the grocery store and gym described above.
RED Development told Axios Phoenix in April 2026 that the 100-acre project is roughly half finished, with the remaining phases, including more restaurants, retail, and residential, expected to wrap by around 2030. That timeline means the corner will keep changing shape for years, but the part that already changed is the part that matters for anyone living nearby right now: you can already do your grocery run, grab a drink with a golf simulator attached, and get a pickleball game in without waiting for a single headline name to cut a ribbon.
That's the actual story of this stretch of Paradise Valley in September 2026. Not a countdown to a celebrity chef opening, but a corner that already earns a weekly visit, with the more talked-about additions still to come.
If you're watching how a corner like this changes the daily rhythm of a neighborhood you already call home, or you're curious what a shift like this means for property values nearby, the Matheson Real Estate Team tracks these changes closely because they shape Paradise Valley as much as any listing does. Request a Private Consultation when you'd like to talk through what's next for this stretch of town.
