Hotel, Sam Fox restaurant to be part of massive North Phoenix development

The first phase of the City North development in Phoenix will feature multiple restaurants including one from high-profile restaurateur Sam Fox and a dual-branded hotel by real estate developer Brian Frakes.

Robert Flaxman, CEO of Crown Realty & Development, the master developer of City North and thousands of acres in north Phoenix, said Crown plans to sell 8 acres to Frakes’ company, Common Bond Development Group, as part of the deal. The parcel, which is in escrow to sell, is near 56th Street and a new street that will be called City North Boulevard.

Flaxman said the pad for the hotel and restaurants should be ready for delivery by July.

While still in preliminary planning stages, Frakes said his company will develop 22,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and then will develop a dualbranded hotel that will have 240 rooms in total.

Frakes has signed on Fox Restaurant Concepts to open a large-format Blanco Tacos & Tequila in 10,000 square feet of the space. Common Bond is looking to identify two more quality restaurant and retail concepts to join the development.

The hotel will be branded, Frakes said, but he was not ready to announce what flags it will operate under. Frakes is helping Fox develop a boutique hotel in Phoenix’s Arcadia neighborhood, but said that project is different from what is being done at City North.

Construction on Common Bond’s retail and restaurant project is expected to start by the end of 2020 and be finished by the fall of 2021, Frakes said. The hotel will be done in the spring of 2022.

“We are a part of a greater sum,” Frakes said about all the development at City North. “There is so much going on up there. We believe it will be a city within a city.”

Frakes has previously developed several projects for Fox, including the Yard in Tempe, Gilbert and Tucson.

Fox sold his restaurant company, Fox Restaurant Concepts, to the Cheesecake Factory Inc. in July 2019 for $308 million. As part of the deal, FRC will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary and Fox will continue to lead the company.

Read other exciting news