Elizabeth and Tyler Marcou, who have lived in the Valley for decades, moved from Anthem in far north Phoenix to a new downtown Phoenix high-rise in 2022. Their daughter had moved out, and the empty nesters wanted less space and to be closer to more things to do.

The couple lives on the top floor of The Ryan, next to a Fry’s grocery and across from the PHX Arena. Their building has a bar for residents, a fifth-floor pool deck, catering kitchen, co-working space, yoga classes and sip-and-paint get togethers.

“I remember when you only came downtown for business and special events,” said Elizabeth Marcou, who travels for work and finds it much easier and faster to get to the airport from their new home. “Downtown has exploded into this great livable and workable space. We love it.”

Affordable Housing Scarce In New Downtown Phoenix High Rises

“The sidewalks no longer roll up in downtown Phoenix every night, and it’s no longer just a sports and entertainment venue,” said Devney Preuss Majerle, CEO of Downtown Phoenix Inc., a group that cultivates the area’s evolution.

She said downtown has the full spectrum of residents, from college students to downsizing baby boomers and “young professionals who want their neighborhood to be their living room.”

More than 12,000 housing units have been built downtown since 2000, and now more than 25,000 people call it home. Most of the new high rises are high-end with rents above the Valley’s average.

Downtown Phoenix apartments built during the past 25 years include more than a dozen affordable complexes. Some of those — Urban Living on Fillmore and Catherine Arms — were developed by nonprofit Native American Connections which was able to buy land in the area during the Great Recession.

Soaring land prices in Phoenix’s core make it tougher to build apartments that workers in the area can afford. But a few new developments, including PALMtower and Roosevelt Square, will have up to 10% of apartments set aside for workforce housing. Developers are getting a tax incentive from Phoenix for allocating apartments for housing people earning between 60% and 120% of downtown’s median income.

“A few years ago, downtown had a higher percentage of affordable rentals, but many of the newer towers aren’t offering any workforce housing,” said Sheila Harris, founding director of the Arizona Housing Department and co-chair of Phoenix Community Alliance’s Social Housing & Advancement Committee. “We are seeing 20-story high-rises going up with not one affordable apartment.”

The average downtown Phoenix apartment rents for almost $2,000, about $500 more than the average Phoenix rent, according to apartment research firm RentCafe. Some new towers are leasing two-bedroom apartments for nearly $4,000 a month.

Downtown Phoenix ranks No. 21 in the U.S. for the most apartments built since 2020, per the study.  About 23% of all Phoenix-area apartments built between 2020 and 2024 went up in downtown Phoenix.

Gabriel Vasquez moved to downtown Phoenix from California’s Santa Barbara-area in 2020.

“Phoenix is such a spread-out city, but I don’t want to always have to get in my car,” said Vasquez, who moved from another downtown high-rise to the recently opened PALMtower at the Arizona Center. “I have everything I need downtown.”

He said he can meet friends, go to a movie, skating, dinner and get groceries or ice cream without having to get in his car.

All of the apartment development in downtown Phoenix has prompted some to question whether the area is overbuilt.

But Mark Stapp, director of the master of real estate development program at Arizona State University, said renters will absorb the new apartments downtown as metro Phoenix continues to mature and become more dense.

Overbuilding is also less of a concern than during other metro Phoenix building booms because construction already is slowing.

More than 3,000 apartment units are currently under construction in downtown Phoenix, said Thomas Brophy, national director of apartment research for Colliers of Phoenix.

About 1,000 apartment units in seven projects are on the drawing board for the city’s core, the lowest level since 2020.

3 Big Things Drove Downtown Phoenix’s Emergence

“It’s amazing what’s going on in downtown,” Stapp said. “It has become an interesting and desirable district, and tremendous decisions have shaped its evolution.”

Phoenix’s core thrived with offices, shopping and restaurants in the 1950s and 60s until the exodus to Valley suburbs in the 1970s.

It took three big expansions to launch downtown Phoenix’s comeback, said Phoenix’s Economic Development Director Christine Mackay.

She pegs the city’s downtown renaissance to: ASU’s expansion and support, light rail opening and linking the area to other parts of the Valley and RED Development’s CityScape project that brought retail, restaurants, offices, a boutique hotel and housing to the area during a downturn.

“CityScape was built during the Great Recession and set the stage for showing how downtown could be a cool and hip place to live,” Mackay said. “When it opened, everyone was like, ‘Oh my gosh, the area looks like a big city downtown now.’”

She said before CityScape, Phoenix officials had to recruit residential projects and “joked it was like dragging developers to the area kicking and screaming.”

Instead of a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. place, downtown Phoenix now has an 18-hour cycle, say downtown residents and proponents.

Sydney Turner, from Sacramento, California, will soon start law school at ASU.

“We first looked at Tempe and were highly considering it,” said Sydney’s mother, Alison Turner, who was helping her move.

But then Alison started googling luxury apartments and found several downtown complexes including the new Sol Modern located on the popular Roosevelt Row, with high-end amenities including a member-only club with a second pool deck, chef’s kitchen with private dining room and access to culinary and wellness classes.

Sydney saw it and changed her mind, opting for downtown Phoenix. Rents at Sol Modern start at about $1,650.

“Phoenix looks like it is growing and changing, and we are excited to be part of the change,” Alison said. “It reminds us of downtown Sacramento, very walkable with the sports arenas and lots of restaurants.”

‘We’ve Finally Cracked The Code’ On Downtown Phoenix

Patrick Callahan moved to The McKinley apartments near downtown’s Roosevelt Row in 2021. He had lived in Phoenix but moved to New York in 2016.

“Downtown Phoenix has changed immensely,” he said. “The first place my friend took me to was GenuWine, which has become my ‘Cheer’s’ bar.”

He works from home and got rid of his car because shopping, restaurants and bars that all are nearby and said a real “community” of people moving from other parts of the country to downtown has emerged.

What also surprised Callahan about downtown were the rents. He was paying about $1,000 for a north Phoenix rental in 2016 and is now paying $2,000.