26-Story Multifamily Property Moves Dirt in Roosevelt Row Arts District

PHOENIX—Developers Ray and VeLa recently revealed the groundbreaking of Ray Phoenix, a design-forward multifamily residential building that features one of the region’s most comprehensive amenity packages, spacious studio, one and two-bedroom apartment units with floor-to-ceiling windows offering mountain and skyline views, a ground-level exhibition venue and retail, and a site-specific mural in the resident lobby by renowned American multimedia artist Alex Israel.

Designed by architectural firm Johnston Marklee & Associates, in partnership with Lamar Johnson Collaborative, the building will be located in the Roosevelt Row Arts District, with an aim to enhance the community by making art, architecture, and design highly accessible to its residents.

Co-developed by Ray and VeLa, the 26-story, high-rise building will encompass approximately 523,000 square feet, including 401 residential rental units— 193 studios, 116 one-bedrooms (including den and duplex options), and 92 two-bedrooms (including duplex and penthouse options)—a large fitness center, yoga studio, outdoor resort-style pool, communal kitchen and fireplace lounge, sunken lounge with theater experience, dog wash stations, indoor and outdoor gardens, workspaces and more, according to a prepared release.

Additionally, Ray Phoenix will offer more than 4,500 square feet of ground-level retail. Located at 777 N Central Ave just two blocks from E Roosevelt Street, residents will be in walking distance to all that downtown Phoenix has to offer, including top ranked schools, restaurants, shopping and more.

“We feel strongly that it is possible to raise the bar on the urban residential experience while also offering a diversity of price points to a diversity of renters,” says Nick Benjamin, Principal of VeLa, in a prepared release. “We couldn’t be more excited to be partnering with Ray to execute that vision and to bring this exceptional building and its world class design, amenities and art program to the rapidly growing downtown Phoenix market. We believe the best is yet to come for downtown Phoenix and are proud to be joining the community.”

Ray Phoenix marks a harmonious blend of modern aesthetics and functionality that reflect the vibrance and beauty of the city of Phoenix, adds Suzanne Demisch, Creative Director at Ray. “We’re delighted to introduce another design-forward Ray building that embraces art and culture in daily living experiences and are especially honored to partner with celebrated artist Alex Israel on a distinctive artist-intervention.”

Johnston Marklee & Associates, in partnership with Lamar Johnson Collaborative, conceptualized the building’s primitive form, clear structure, and textured green palette to be animated by the changing light and shadow of the desert skies that marks the landscape of the west.

The building establishes a street presence through its retail storefront, an inviting addition to the downtown Phoenix streetscape. Grace Fuller Marroquín of Grace Fuller Design conceived the landscape concept for Ray Phoenix, focusing on lush but sustainable landscape design, with an emphasis on the use of native species and blending of the exterior landscape approach with the interior amenity design, according to a prepared release.

The building interior was designed by Ray’s in-house design team in collaboration with Parts & Labor.

The groundbreaking at Ray Phoenix, which closely follows the successful opening of Ray Philly and the topping out of Ray Harlem in New York, represents the continuing expansion of Ray’s vision to bring a shared experience of art, architecture, and design across the country, the release notes.