Arizona Center in downtown Phoenix gets major facelift

Mayor Greg Stanton, along with Parallel Capital Partners, took sledge hammers to flagstone and knocked giant holes in the current facade to kick off construction of some major renovations at the Arizona Center near Third Street and Van Buren in downtown Phoenix.

The $25 million renovation officially starts today.

"I'm excited about this refresh of this," Mayor Stanton said. "That's really important to call it a refresh because Arizona Center was awesome when it was built. It's always stayed a very positive thing in our downtown and now with this refresh it's going to take it to a whole new level."

Parallel Capital Partners CEO Matt Root says as downtown Phoenix continues to evolve and grow, Arizona Center has to do the same.

"Going from more of a stagnant nine-to-five metro to his bustling 18-hour work-play environment and to have that work you need to have densification, you need to have bodies down here and that's what's helping with all of the development," he said.

Root announced some of the plans that will enhance the center in a big way. These plans include a new hotel and multi-family housing units.

"It's a boutique-hotel with a great brand name, world class developer," he said. "We have a type-one residential tower that's going to go in, that's going to add a lot of densification down here. On the retail side, we're talking to some boutique grocers right now."

No businesses here currently open will have to close during construction, so it will be business as usual. The construction will be done in certain phases and that construction is supposed to last about nine months.