26-Story Art-Focused Downtown Phoenix Apartment Tower Begins Construction

Article originally posted on AZ Central on April 17, 2024

A 26-story apartment tower is beginning construction in downtown Phoenix, the latest project for a New York-based development firm with a focus on art and architecture.

The project, called Ray Phoenix, is a joint venture between development firm Ray and VeLa Development Partners. The Phoenix location will be the third Ray development nationwide, the company has developed a building in Philadelphia and is constructing a complex in Harlem in New York City.

The building will have 401 apartment units, ranging in size from studios to two-bedrooms, and includes penthouse options.

Rents at the development are expected to vary greatly, ranging from $1,550 per month to $7,500 per month. The company will begin taking reservations for select units immediately after groundbreaking, a company spokesperson said.

The project is located at 777 N. Central Ave. on a site that is a surface parking lot. Construction is expected to finish around the second quarter of 2026.

“We feel strongly that it is possible to raise the bar on the urban residential experience while also offering a diversity of price points to a diversity of renters,” said Nick Benjamin, principal of VeLa, in a statement.

The Ray development firm was founded by Dasha Zhukova Niarchos, the founder of art-focused ventures like the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, which was founded with her ex-husband, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, and Garage Magazine, an art and fashion publication.

Ray’s first development has already opened in Philadelphia, and the Harlem location, which is partnered with the National Black Theatre, is under construction and expected to be completed this year.

The Phoenix building was designed by Johnston Marklee & Associates, in partnership with Lamar Johnson Collaborative. It will include a fitness studio, resort-style pool, dog washing stations, indoor and outdoor gardens and a 4,500-square-foot food and beverage concept with art exhibition space on the ground floor. The developer did not announce a tenant for the restaurant space yet.

Sharon Johnston, founding partner of Johnston Marklee & Associates, said she has been working on the project for about a year.

“We are always thinking of the fabric of the city,” she said, adding that the building’s color scheme is “drawing on colors from the desert.”

The project is the first apartment complex the firm has designed, she said.

Johnston said the green tones and the large proportion of glass makes the building “chameleon-like.”

“It reflects the sky and can sometimes kind of disappear,” she said.