Downtown Phoenix's food scene is about to get a major revamp as Pretty Decent Concepts takes over nearly 10,000 square feet at the Arizona Center, including the space that used to house Hooters. The local restaurant group, known for their hip downtown spots like Wren & Wolf and Chico Malo, aims to shake up the struggling shopping plaza with three new dining venues. "When you look at Arizona Center, it was a bit of a black eye to the burgeoning restaurant community that is trying to develop here," Theodore Myers, co-owner of Pretty Decent Concepts, said in a statement obtained by the Business Journal.
Myers expressed the group's ambitions to not just solely add to the area, but to transform it into a marquee destination with their new concepts. The idea is to launch an upscale steakhouse that's been likened to a reimagined version of the classic Durant's, a mainstay on Central Avenue for over seven decades. "It will be like if Durant's was reimagined and opening in a much more prominent location in downtown Phoenix. That's our goal with this," Myers confidently told the Business Journal. The company has worked with designer Peter Bowden, hoping to infuse the project with the same 'creative energy' that has marked their previous successes.
Arizona Center's new lease on life comes courtesy of Pretty Decent Concepts and AZ Center LLC, managed by Daryl Burton’s Reliance Management, which took over the site last summer. In talks with the previous ownership, the deal appeared to be slowing down due to a purported lack of understanding of the local market's needs. "When the asset traded hands to Darryl Burton, who is local and has the same passion that we have, we very quickly got the deal done in like two weeks," Myers explained to the Business Journal.
The dining trio is expected to make its debut in late 2024 or early 2025, bringing flavors and experiences that harmonize with each other, yet to be detailed by Myers. Faith Burton, the director of special projects for the Arizona Center, praised the restaurant group. She told ABC15, "[Pretty Decent Concepts] came in with not only just concepts but a creative energy and a level of care and detail to the concepts that they execute on that we think fits really well into what we're doing at Arizona Center.” Apart from this venture, Pretty Decent Concepts is bustling with other projects, including Carry On at the Renaissance Square, and dual dining venues at a former P.F. Chang’s location in Tempe.
