Something quiet has shifted on the western spine of the neighborhood. For years, the stretch of 32nd Street between Camelback and the canal read as the place you drove through on your way to 40th. This summer it is the place you stop. A six-in-one restaurant just opened in the Bond building, the city is halfway through redrawing the roadway itself, and the flood-control tunnels a few blocks away are hosting their annual bat colony. If you live here, the corridor is worth walking again.
The Bond Building Got A Second Life In Under A Year
The office building at 3200 E. Camelback Road, on the northeast quadrant of 32nd and Camelback, spent most of 2025 as the home of Mark Tarbell's Cultivate. Cultivate closed after less than a year. What replaced it in June is the more interesting story.
Chef Christopher Collins, known locally for Grassroots and The Neighborly, took over the space with a concept called One Sixth. Instead of one kitchen, he built six. The restaurant offers six distinct menus: Bobo Jefe's Vecina Cocina; SBK Pizzeria; a Mod-Med concept called Perissa; sushi bar Saltwater Saint; barbecue and sandwich specialist Misfit Cowboy; and Sweet Provisions, which covers dessert. Set in the building's barside atrium, One Sixth is open Monday through Friday.
| Sub-concept | What it serves |
|---|---|
| Bobo Jefe's Vecina Cocina | Mexican |
| SBK Pizzeria | Pizza |
| Perissa | Modern Mediterranean |
| Saltwater Saint | Sushi |
| Misfit Cowboy | Barbecue and sandwiches |
| Sweet Provisions | Dessert |
The weekday-only schedule is the tell. Collins is building for the office population inside the Bond and the residents within walking distance, not the weekend Camelback crowd. If you have been walking past that corner for a decade waiting for something to stick, the second attempt is worth a Tuesday lunch.
The Street Itself Is Being Redrawn
While the corner changes hands, the road in front of it is under construction. The city's 32nd Street Improvement Project runs from Cheryl Drive up to Cholla Street, well north of Camelback, but the design logic applies to the whole corridor. Construction began in July 2025, and the next phase of work was updated to start the week of June 29, 2026.
The point is not repaving. It is a rebalancing. Features include adjusting lane widths to increase safety for people bicycling and to moderate speeds, which the city justifies by noting that construction of State Route 51 resulted in a corresponding decrease in traffic volume along this portion of 32nd Street. The freeway absorbed the through-traffic; the street gets to become a street again.
For a resident, that means two things this summer. Expect closures and lane shifts through the fall. Expect the finished product to be quieter, slower, and easier to cross on foot from the neighborhoods on either side.
What Actually Lives In The Tunnels
Most Arcadia Lite residents drive over the Arizona Canal several times a week without stopping. Between April and October, that is a missed appointment. The flood-control tunnels that parallel the canal have a summer resident population most people never see.
A flood-control tunnel parallel to the canal serves as an urban bat cave for thousands of Mexican free-tailed and canyon bats that roost near the openings at 24th and 40th streets. According to the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the bats arrive in April to have their young in the tunnel and, by October, start heading back to Mexico for the winter. The bats are most active in summer. The show is dusk, and it is silent, and it is right at the end of your block.
Angela McIntire, the department's bat expert, put the appeal plainly in an interview with Visit Phoenix: "The bats are a great urban wildlife-watching opportunity. Contrary to myth, they're not a danger to the public." Bring water. Stand back from the tunnel mouth. Wait for the light to drop.
A Practical Loop, End Of A Weeknight
If you want a route that ties the corridor together, here is one that works in July at 7:15 p.m.:
- Park or start on foot at the Bond building corner. Grab an early drink or a small plate at one of the One Sixth counters.
- Walk east on Campbell to Postino Arcadia at 3939 E. Campbell Avenue, housed in the 1940s brick post office building. Happy hour offers $6 glasses of wine and pitchers of beer until 5 PM daily, and the Board + Bottle special pairs a bruschetta board with a bottle of house wine for $25 after 8 PM on Mondays and Tuesdays.
- Drop down to the Arizona Canal path. The trail runs directly past O.H.S.O. Brewery, where patio access is right off the paved canal path, with cold beer, leveled-up bar food and pup-friendly seating.
- Follow the canal west toward 40th Street. Watch the tunnel opening as the sky turns.
- Loop back through the residential blocks. You will hit LGO at 4410 N. 40th Street on the way. The pizzeria opens daily at 4 PM, with pizza available from 11 AM on Fridays through Sundays.
The whole circuit is under three miles. The Arizona Canal is part of the 131 miles of canals operated by Salt River Project, and the paved trail moves an estimated more than 750,000 people annually, and that's probably a conservative figure, according to SRP. In the summer, half of them are out after 7 p.m.
The Mainstays That Still Set The Rhythm
The corridor has been well-fed for a long time. What has changed is the number of reasons to leave your block; what has not changed is where a Wednesday night actually lands. A short accounting:
- La Grande Orange Grocery, 4410 N. 40th Street. Curated market with a wine shop, a bakery, and a pizzeria under one roof.
- Chelsea's Kitchen, 5040 N. 40th Street. An Arcadia staple known for its rotisserie chicken, house-made cornbread, and creative cocktails.
- Ingo's Tasty Food, 4502 N. 40th Street. All-day breakfast, an "Ingo's Burger," and a patio for sipping cocktails outdoors.
- Postino Arcadia, 3939 E. Campbell Avenue. The brick post office, still the neighborhood living room.
- O.H.S.O. Brewery, on the canal. Dog-friendly, canal-facing, unpretentious.
None of these are new. All of them are the reason the corridor was worth reinvesting in.
The Edges Are Still Filling In
Two openings sitting just outside the 32nd Street corridor are worth watching because they tell you where the momentum is heading.
Chef Kevin Ehret opened Neutral Ground Lounge at 4602 E. Thomas Road in early 2026. His new Arcadia restaurant is a love letter to the hyper-seasonal small plates and refined cocktails he has been dreaming of creating for over a decade. The pitch is Arcadians first, tourists never. Ehret described his geography this way to Phoenix New Times: "My whole life is like a two-mile radius. I literally grew up here, and now my son goes to school down the street. We live close by, so to find a restaurant space in this neighborhood and location that I grew up in and live in now is pretty wild."
A few blocks the other direction, Arcadia Pizza Company is preparing to open at 3122 E. Indian School Road in Phoenix, according to a recent liquor license filing. Owner Joe Stubbe is targeting a late summer or early September debut for the neighborhood pizzeria, with a concept focused on Midwest-inspired pizza styles, including Chicago-inspired tavern-style pies and Detroit-inspired square pizzas. If you have driven past that vacant frontage for the last year wondering, the answer is tavern pizza by fall.
Why This Matters If You Already Live Here
The pattern across the 32nd Street corridor is not new arrivals from out of state trying to plant a flag. It is operators who already know the neighborhood placing their next bet inside its walkable core. Collins, Ehret, and Stubbe are all working within a two-mile radius of where they already live or already run something. The city, for its part, is spending real construction dollars to make the street itself walkable enough to reward that bet.
That is worth paying attention to when you evaluate what your evenings look like this year, and what your block will look like next year.
If you are curious about how the corridor's shifting center of gravity is being read by the broader market, or you want a private conversation about your home's position within it, Shawna Warner and the team are available. Request a Luxury Home Valuation at your convenience.
