Downtown Phoenix eyed for thousands of housing units, hotel conversion

Article originally posted on AZ Central on May 15, 2026

Thousands of apartment units are under construction or in the planning process in downtown Phoenix, but city officials said there is continued demand for residential development in the city’s core.

Since 2015, more than 10,600 apartment units have opened in downtown Phoenix, Xandon Keating, deputy director of community and economic development for the city, said at a meeting of the Economic Development and Arts subcommittee on May 14.

About 1,800 units are under construction and another 2,800 are in the planning process, Keating said.

The downtown area has seen rapid growth in the past two decades, fueled partially by the growth of the Arizona State University Downtown campus and the creation of the Valley Metro light rail system, Keating said.

In April, downtown’s newest apartment tower, called Ray Phoenix, opened. The art-focused apartment complex included 401 housing units ranging from studios to two bedrooms. Ray founder Dasha Zhukova Niarchos said she was drawn to downtown Phoenix, specifically the Roosevelt Row Arts District, because it’s a growing hub for artists, and the city that was still “defining its cultural identity.”

At Central Avenue and Van Buren, Central Station completed construction in late 2025 and added two residential towers, a 33-story traditional apartment tower with 338 units and a student housing development that rents by the bedroom, with 655 bedrooms, reaching 22 stories tall.

On the southern side of downtown, Denver-based developer Aardex is preparing to build a 14-story, 262-unit apartment tower called Jackson Place, which could begin construction in 2027, completing in 2028 or 2029.