For the better part of two years, the corner of Cactus Road and Tatum Boulevard, several miles north of the Town of Paradise Valley's own Lincoln Drive core, has been a construction fence with a rendering taped to it. The site still carries the name PV, after the old Paradise Valley Mall that stood there, and it's the shopping node most people in this part of the Valley already treat as their own even though it sits inside Phoenix city limits. Whole Foods opened. Flower Child opened. A slow trickle of names followed, one every few months, each accompanied by a press release promising more to come. The mall sat empty for years before redevelopment broke ground, and the first restaurants didn't open their doors until fall 2024.
That changed this month. Federal Pizza opened its doors on August 12. Harry & Izzy's opens on August 26. Two names that have been "coming soon" for over a year are now either serving pies or ten days from serving steak and shrimp cocktail. This is the first time since the redevelopment started that the calendar has moved faster than the rumor mill, and it changes what a resident can actually plan a Tuesday around.
The Fence Finally Came Down
Federal Pizza's second location, its first outside Uptown Phoenix, opened inside a custom-built 4,000-square-foot space with a 1,500-square-foot patio wrapping around half the building. The design, led by Mike Rumpeltin of Brick & West Design, nods to the original Uptown building's midcentury bones while adding a take-out lounge and bottle shop, a feature the first location never had. The first 100 guests through the door received a trucker hat, a bottle opener, and a Wren House Brewing beer. The pizzas are the same ones that made the Uptown original a name people drove across town for: the Flaming Lips, topped with pepperoni, salami, gorgonzola, and hot honey, and the Supremium, a Detroit-style deep dish with salami and Castelvetrano olives.
There's a charitable thread worth knowing about if you're planning a visit this month. Federal Pizza PV has partnered with The Joy Bus, a nonprofit that delivers chef-prepared meals to homebound cancer patients. For the first month, a dollar from every Wren House Melt Mode beer sold goes to the organization, and on August 23 from 4 to 7 p.m., the restaurant is hosting an event where guests can decorate bags and write notes for Joy Bus meal recipients.
Ten days later, Harry & Izzy's arrives at 12770 N. Tatum Blvd. in Phoenix. This is the first location outside Indiana for the Indianapolis grill, a sister restaurant to the historic St. Elmo Steak House, and it's been one of the more anticipated names on the PV list since it was first announced. The menu leans into classic American grill fare, from a Maine lobster roll to a BLT wedge salad to a New York-style cheesecake for dessert. Huse Culinary's CEO framed the opening simply.
"We've built our brands around exceptional food, genuine hospitality and creating memorable experiences," said Craig Huse, CEO of Huse Culinary.
Huse hasn't ruled out bringing additional concepts to the Valley, so this may not be the last name to cross from announcement to actual doors.
Where Things Stand as of This Week
As of April 2026, eleven restaurants, bars, and markets were open at the redeveloped site, with four more announced. Here's the honest breakdown of what a resident can walk into today versus what's still a sign on a future storefront.
Name | What it is | Status as of mid-August 2026 |
|---|---|---|
Federal Pizza PV | Wood-fired pizza, pasta, and a new take-out lounge and bottle shop | Open since August 12 |
Harry & Izzy's | Indianapolis steak and shrimp cocktail grill, Huse Culinary's first stop outside Indiana | Opens August 26 |
Too Sweet Cakes | Bakery and pastry counter, watch-and-order cake decorating | Anticipated by early summer 2026 |
The Vig | Eighth Valley location of the neighborhood tavern, adobe brick and 1970s post-and-beam design | Anticipated later in 2026 |
Cala | Mediterranean concept, second location of the Senna House Hotel Scottsdale original | Anticipated in 2026 |
The site itself spans more than 100 acres near Cactus and Tatum and includes office space, shops, and a 400-unit apartment complex alongside the restaurant lineup. That scale is part of why the openings have felt scattered. A project this size doesn't flip a switch. It fills in one lease at a time, and the last two weeks happen to be the fastest stretch it's had yet.
What's Actually Happening Inside Town Limits
The dining news belongs to Phoenix, but the rest of a Paradise Valley resident's August routine is unfolding right here, and it's worth knowing what's genuinely changed on this side of the line too.
Camelback Mountain remains the obvious start to the day. Echo Canyon Trailhead, at 4925 E. McDonald Dr. on the Phoenix side of the mountain, has a dedicated lot that fills fast, along with restrooms and water at the base, and climbs about 1,400 feet over roughly 1.2 miles. If you'd rather skip the crowd and don't mind hunting for street parking, the Cholla Trailhead sits along Invergordon Road, technically inside Paradise Valley's own boundary, with room for around 70 cars parked along the street and no restrooms or water at the trailhead itself. Neither route is forgiving in August heat, which is exactly why the sunrise crowd treats it as a before-breakfast errand rather than a leisurely afternoon.
For the parts of the day that call for water instead of switchbacks, Mountain Shadows, on Lincoln Drive in the heart of town, is running its Arizona-resident Fee-Free Staycation through September 30, with rooms at $159 on weeknights and $199 on weekends and the resort fee waived for anyone who shows Arizona ID. It's a straightforward way to spend an afternoon by a pool without the drive to Sedona or Old Town that August usually pushes people toward, and unlike the restaurant news up the road, this deal is happening on Paradise Valley's own address.
What This Actually Means
The headline isn't that Paradise Valley got two new restaurants, because it didn't. It's that the shopping node just north of town, the one that's been announcing more than it delivers since 2024, finally moved at the pace it was originally promised, opening two long-anticipated names within the same two weeks instead of the usual slow drip. For two years, the safest assumption about any PV announcement was to wait and see. That assumption held right up until August 12. Whether the remaining names on the list, Too Sweet Cakes, The Vig, and Cala, follow at the same speed or settle back into the slower rhythm the project has kept for the past two years is worth watching if you've been holding out on planning a dinner around any of them.
For now, two doors have opened where there used to be just signs. That's more than this corridor has managed in a long while, and it's reason enough to make the short drive north this week rather than wait for the next press release.
If you're weighing what a changing Paradise Valley means for your own home, whether that's timing a sale around a shifting neighborhood or understanding what a specific pocket of town is worth right now, Merritt Estates is a call away. Book an Appointment with Renee Merritt and her team to talk through it.
