Walk from 24th Street to 32nd along Camelback right now and you can read the corridor's next chapter in the construction fencing. Esplanade has a new block of restaurants. Biltmore Fashion Park is swapping in wellness studios and design showrooms where you'd expect another handbag store. And the biggest luxury name at the mall, the one that has anchored this address since 1995, is on its way out.
The story locals keep hearing is "the Biltmore is being revitalized." That's true, but it undersells what's happening. The corridor is quietly re-sorting itself away from destination department-store shopping and toward a weekday-evening neighborhood pattern: run club at 6:30, dinner with a tequila sommelier at 7, gallery walk on a Sunday afternoon. If you already live in 85016, the changes over the next twelve months will affect your Tuesday more than your Saturday.
The Saks exit is the tell, not the tragedy
On February 10, 2026, Saks Fifth Avenue announced it would be closing at Biltmore Fashion Park as part of a plan to close 8 stores nationwide. Saks had held the anchor position at the corner of 24th and Camelback since 1995, when it moved into the old I. Magnin space.
Read that closure against what's moving in and the direction is clear. The major luxury houses, including Gucci and Louis Vuitton, consolidated their Phoenix presence at Scottsdale Fashion Square, positioning Biltmore as the market's accessible premium alternative rather than its primary luxury address. The center is not trying to out-Scottsdale Scottsdale anymore. Life Time fitness occupies a major portion of the footprint and operates as a daily traffic anchor, driving morning and evening visits that most retail-only properties cannot generate. The tenant mix reflects a contemporary lifestyle orientation rather than heavy luxury, with Lululemon, Anthropologie, Pottery Barn, and Soma representing the core fashion and home categories.
The department store is going. The neighborhood clubhouse is what RED Development is building in its place.
The Esplanade block, in the order you'll notice it
The Esplanade, at 24th and Camelback, has been the quietest big story on the corridor. Phoenix's Biltmore neighborhood is getting a slew of new restaurants, cafes and bars, largely thanks to a $50 million renovation of Esplanade, a business campus located on Camelback Road and 26th Street.
The three most useful ones for residents to know by name:
- Camello. The elevated Mexican restaurant Camello opens in Phoenix's Biltmore neighborhood on Feb. 2. A colorful Mexican restaurant is joining the growing roster of fresh restaurants at The Esplanade in Phoenix's Biltmore neighborhood. Camello will open for dinner service on Monday, Feb. 2. Executive Chef Julio Mata oversees the kitchen. He's worked at the revered Barrio Café and opened all of Barrio Queen's locations, the release said. Camello's menu is inspired by Mata's roots in Guaymas, Mexico, with modern twists. Design-wise it is unmistakable: bubble gum pink walls, black-and-white striped floors and a mirror-tiled back bar, took cues ranging from Mexican architect Luis Barragán to Studio 54.
- Little Pickle and The Mercer. Camello's operators, Rick Phillips and Peter Hearn of 151 Hospitality, also opened Little Pickle Jewish Deli and The Mercer in 2025 in The Esplanade. Three concepts, one block, one hospitality group. That's the point.
- Yellowbell at The Camby. Just west at 2401 E. Camelback, The Camby has refreshed its restaurant, updating the look and menu. The hotel debuted Yellowbell earlier this fall, officially opening on Oct. 1 and replacing Artizen. Executive Chef Alfredo Alvarez has crafted an all-day menu that emphasizes Southwestern flavors and local ingredients.
One more move worth flagging on the breakfast side. Fà-me Café, the locally owned breakfast and lunch restaurant founded by Maria and Ivan O'Farrill, is expected to relocate later this year from its longtime home at 4700 N. Central Ave. to the 24th at Camelback office complex at 2375 E. Camelback Road in the city's Biltmore neighborhood. According to a recent report by the Phoenix Business Journal, the move is expected to take place during the fourth quarter of 2026. A neighborhood breakfast spot with real O'Farrill-family history moving into the office core is a signal about which meal the corridor is competing for next.
Where Fashion Park is placing its 2026 bets
The new leases at Biltmore Fashion Park read less like a mall directory and more like a wellness-and-design brief. Here is the map for the year:
| Tenant | Category | Timing | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| FP Movement | Activewear (URBN) | Spring 2026 | Between Rye 51 and Warby Parker |
| [solidcore] | Pilates-style studio | Spring 2026 | Construction expected to start in late February 2026, with the studio opening in spring 2026 |
| Herman Miller | Design showroom | Late February 2026 | Herman Miller is set to debut a showroom next to Ralph Lauren, bringing its globally recognized ergonomic furniture and human-centered design to the Valley for the first time. Slated to open in late February, the showroom will showcase signature pieces, including the Aeron Chair, within a curated retail environment. |
| La La Land Kind Cafe | Café | Later in 2026 | Will open later in 2026 at Biltmore Fashion Park, near True Food Kitchen |
| Biltmore Fine Art | Pop-up gallery | Open now | Biltmore Fine Art, a limited-time pop-up gallery located across from Pomo Pizzeria. The gallery is led by veteran gallerist Robert Casterline, co-founder of Casterline |
Notice what is missing from that list. No luxury fashion houses. No department stores. The category mix looks a lot more like what you'd see in a Class A office trade area than in a traditional mall, which tracks with how the property actually gets used. The property functions as a gathering place for the local professional community as much as a retail destination, with lunch and after-work dining accounting for a significant share of its daily visits.
Weeknight rhythms, not weekend errands
The programming calendar is where the shift shows up most clearly for residents.
- Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. Lace up and join us at Biltmore Fashion Park every Wednesday at 6:30 PM for Midweek Miles with the Phoenix Run Club. This free weekly community run welcomes runners of all levels.
- Sip & Shop, anytime. Shoppers can now Sip & Shop at Biltmore Fashion Park by sipping on their favorite alcoholic beverages while strolling through the center. A common-consumption area is a small ordinance change with a large behavioral effect: it turns errands into a stroll.
- Sunday, March 15, 1 to 5 p.m. The Biltmore Fashion Park Art Walk launches its inaugural season in 2026, hosted in collaboration with and support from RED Development, Axiom Contemporary Gallery, and Artlink Inc. Set as a Sunday afternoon stroll in the Biltmore Fashion Park with drinks and bites through a series of gallery walls constructed in the outdoor mall area. There will be a rotating series of curated exhibitions spotlighting Arizona artists selected via an open call to artists, and thoughtfully curated by a jury panel.
- Saturday, March 28. Biltmore Fashion Park will host the Arizona WineGrowers Festival, an immersive tasting event featuring more than 40 Arizona wineries and highlighting the state's growing wine industry.
Take those four items together and you get a schedule most walkable urban neighborhoods would envy: a midweek run, casual evening shopping with a drink, a Sunday gallery afternoon, and a marquee tasting weekend. None of it depends on driving to Scottsdale.
One proposal to keep an eye on
A little east of the mall, an unusual redevelopment is in the pipeline. Joey Restaurant Group, a Canadian restaurant company, has proposed opening its first location in Arizona where an office building now stands on Camelback Road near 32 Street in Phoenix. The restaurant group has proposed an adaptive reuse project for the office building that now stands at the southwest corner of Camelback Road and 31st Street, according to documents submitted to the city of Phoenix. The documents indicate the restaurant would be called Joey Biltmore. The proposal says an 8,736-square-foot restaurant with a 1,563-square-foot patio would be built on the east side of the property.
Office-to-restaurant conversion on a Camelback frontage is not something that used to happen here. It is now. That is the same underlying story as the Saks exit told from the other side: the corridor's highest and best use has quietly shifted from second-tier office and department-store retail toward food, wellness, and culture that draws foot traffic seven nights a week.
How the corridor reads now
For homeowners in Biltmore Estates, Colony Biltmore, Camelback East and the condominium towers along the corridor, the practical picture in 2026 looks like this. Your closest coffee is about to include La La Land Kind Cafe. Your closest Pilates is about to include [solidcore]. Your closest Sunday gallery walk lives at the mall you already park at. Your closest new hospitality concept in an ambitious kitchen is Camello, with a chef who trained at Barrio Café. Your weekday breakfast option is picking up the O'Farrills' Fà-me Café by year end.
The Biltmore Area Partnership's own July 2026 newsletter frames it fairly: upcoming events at The Wrigley Mansion, Esplanade, and Biltmore Fashion Park, plus member spotlights from Arizona Biltmore Golf Club, The Camby, The Hermosa Inn, and more. Read as a directory of a neighborhood people spend Wednesday and Sunday in, not just Saturday.
If you've owned here for more than five years, the interesting question isn't whether the corridor is changing. It's what these changes do to how your address is understood by the next buyer who tours here. A Biltmore that reads as a walkable weekday neighborhood, not a mall-adjacent one, is a different comp set.
That's the conversation Phoenix Living has every week with owners along Camelback. If you're curious what your home would be worth to a buyer shopping the Biltmore of 2026 rather than 2019, get your instant home valuation and let's talk through what the corridor's new rhythm means for your timing.
