New Apartments and Shops Opening Near Phoenix Art Museum

A piece of land that sat empty for years across from the Phoenix Art Museum is now home to a new luxury apartment development.

“The Muse” has not only apartments but retail space and restaurants that are right in the heart of the Arts District. The development with multiple uses occupies the corner of McDowell and Central officially opened on Tuesday. However two months ago, a partially opening of the development took place.

Nate Stum, Development Manager with Lennar said, “Our goal with Muse is to create the highest end community in the area. Stum states the construction had taken 2 years and 2 months but planning for the long empty lot had occurred before that.

Stum stated, “This has been a vacant lot for a very, very long time, for decades. The community has looked at this lot as basically a main and main location. We first started working on this property in 2013.”

The empty lot had been owned by a private owner was purchased for under $13 million. The land now has on it 11,000 square feet of retail space and 367 new luxury apartments for people to make their homes.

The development’s name came as a nod to the art museum and opera nearby.

“The definition of the Muse is artistic inspiration,” Stum stated. “We looked at this property as fitting in the fabric of the central arts district.”

The Muse is one of the rapid developments occurring in the downtown area that aspires to have more people living and walking around in the Downtown area.

Stum tells, “Historically, there’s been very few people that actually lived Downtown. It’s always been a place where there’s been plenty of jobs, but at 6 o’clock, the place emptied out.”

Apartment rental prices at The Muse start at just under $1100 per month for a studio apartment and go up to under $2500 per month for a three bedroom apartment.

The Muse might start the trend of more people living in the Downtown area.