RAS Developments Inc. is in the process of turning several old commercial buildings into a new mixed-use facility with housing, restaurants, office space,RAS Developments, based in Phoenix, is proposing to turn the existing space into a seven-story building that comprises about 150 luxury multifamily units above 6,800 square feet of ground-floor commercial, restaurant, retail and office spaces each fronting the canal, Central Avenue and Coolidge Street.

Project documents show that the south portion of the building, which faces the canal, would include four, two-story ground-floor live/work spaces for small business owners like artists, architects, and consultants that can live on one floor and work on another.

The canal frontage will also feature a restaurant or retail space extending to the southeast corner of the building.

"This space is ideally suited for a café, bistro, or coffee shop and provides a first-of-its-kind amenity for patrons of the Grand Canal Trail to stop for a refreshment and a bite to eat in the shade of the canopies extending off the southern face of the building," the city documents said. and more in Phoenix's Alhambra Village.

The uptown Phoenix project, called Forty600, will be located on about two acres near the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Coolidge Street with frontage along the Grand Canal north of Steele Indian School Park.

The single building will also feature pedestrian-scaled urban design with two-story storefront glazing, shade, landscaping, seating areas and pedestrian and bicycle amenities. It will also wrap around a parking structure.

"It is the kind of development that needs to occur along the Central Corridor if Phoenix is to become a more walkable, less vehicle-dependent city," the city documents said.

The property currently has about 20,000 square feet of commercial space, some of which were built in 1949 and 1976, according to real estate database Vizzda and marketing materials for the site, which was previously advertised as an...

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Written by Audrey Jensen  –  Reporter, Phoenix Business Journal