Paradise Valley Mall redevelopment enters next phase with more restaurants, retailers

Construction on the second phase of the redevelopment of the former Paradise Valley Mall site is set to start in the coming months, bringing several new restaurants to the highly-anticipated project.

Red Development, the Phoenix-based company behind the $2 billion PV project, announced Wednesday several new restaurant and lifestyle tenants that have signed on with the mixed-use center. Construction will begin on those buildouts in the coming months for a 2026 opening.

Cala, a high-end costal-European concept from Phoenix-based Clive Collective, will open a 6,500-square-foot restaurant for its second Valley location. PV will also be home to the Valley’s first Harry & Izzy’s location, which will be in a 9,000-square-foot space.

Velvet Taco, a national taco chain, will open a 1,973-square-foot space, as will Too Sweet Cakes, a local bakery that is going to have its first brick-and-mortar location at PV. Too Sweet Cakes will take up 1,700 square feet.

Also in 2026, two beauty concepts – Face Foundrie and Zara Nail Bar – will open in 1,529-square-foot and 2,210-square-foot spaces, respectively.

While Genuine Concepts has already announced it would be opening a location of The Vig at PV, the company confirmed that construction on the site would begin soon, and it is anticipated to open in Q1 of 2026.

Rendering of the first brick-and-mortar Too Sweet Cakes location. It will be in the PV development in Phoenix and is expected to open in 2026.

Too Sweet Cakes

What is already open at PV?

These new tenants will be joining more than a dozen retailers, restaurants, bars and health and wellness brands that are either already open at PV or will open soon. Some of the first tenants included Whole Foods Market, which moved its location from the corner of Tatum and Shea in Phoenix to PV in October, as well as two Fox Restaurant Concepts locations – Blanco Reserva Cocina + Cantina and Flower Child. Also open at PV are Trevor’s Liquor and The Melt, a California burger and sandwich chain that opened its first location in the Valley at PV.

“We are very focused on bringing the best local tenants because this community loves to support local brands,” said Mike Kallner, Red’s executive vice president of leasing and marketing. “And if we're going to bring somebody from outside the market, we really want it to be best-of-class and first-to-market.”

Next month, Wren House Brewing Co., Hawaiian Bros Island Grill, Frost Gelato Shoppe and Distinctive Salon & Spa are all set to open at the center.

Upward Projects, the Phoenix-based restaurant group behind Postino, will be opening its second location of Federal Pizza at PV in the summer. The first Federal Pizza opened more than a decade ago and Upward Projects CEO Lauren Bailey said the company wasn’t sure if it would ever be opening another Federal Pizza restaurant, but ultimately decided PV was the right location.

“We were looking for a great spot to land the second location of Federal. [The first] has been really busy since Covid,” Bailey said. “Post the pandemic, we really could afford to pull some of the business over to this side [of town] too.”

Not only does Bailey believe the site will be successful for Federal – and it could maybe spawn additional locations of the brand – but Red also expects that having Federal Pizza at PV gives the project the ability to bring in even higher-profile brands as tenants. Kallner said he intentionally went after names and brands like Sam Fox’s Fox Restaurant Concepts and Upward Projects early and publicized it.

“To have those names, and obviously, of course, Whole Foods, that's very key to bringing other tenants,” Kallner said. “They might have their sophisticated analytics, but if they see those brands going here, it makes it an easy decision.”

Not only has PV attracted popular tenants, but its early tenants have also shown better than anticipated revenue results.

“Everybody's above the projections of where they expected, including Whole Foods from what we've heard,” Kallner said. “Trevor's is absolutely killing it. I think it's [the] number one unit.”

Other projects within the PV development

The scope of PV is far greater than just restaurants with several other aspects expected to come online later this year and early next.

On Wednesday, Fender Musical Instruments Corp. held a “topping off” ceremony to celebrate the final beam being placed in its 77,000-square-foot headquarters office building that is expected to open in late 2025.

Red Development

Fender is the only company signed on to PV’s office offerings so far, but Red it is in talks with several other possible tenants.

Construction on a 100,000-square-foot Life Time gym is underway. The upscale athletic club, which will feature a rooftop pool, is expected to open in 2026 and Red said Life Time has indicated the interest in this site is higher than most of its new locations.

Life Time will also start construction on Life Time Living – a first-to-market luxury residential concept that integrates the club and its aesthetics into a multifamily development. Lifetime Living is expected to open in 2027.