By Helen Tracey-Noren and Alexandra Marinkovic
Three years ago, a project started that would bring together the Phoenix community. Described as a “labor of love and patience,” Beef Eaters, once a Phoenix legend, will reopen as three combined businesses called The Newton.
Beef Eaters, which was open from 1961-2006, was a thriving historical monument that still recalls fond memories from Phoenix natives. This landmark is being reinvented in the form of a bookstore, a restaurant, and a public work space. Set to reopen on Nov. 1, The Newton will be reconnecting the community in a modern yet historic way.
Kimber Lanning, a leader in Arizona Local First, talked about her experience with this area of Phoenix. “When I landed in this neighborhood in 2005, people thought I was crazy. The bullet holes in the windows, the graffiti …” Lanning expressed how thrilled she was that local businesses had thrived and elevated the neighborhood. She also talked about the number of jobs that this project is creating. “Not only primary jobs, but on a secondary and tertiary level as well. All the graphic designers, payroll administrators, web designers, and all the people behind the scenes too. And the government is not incentivizing it.”
Chef Justin Beckett of the Beckett’s Table team will be the mastermind behind the restaurant in this space. The public work and event space will be run by The Lively Hood, offering a place for professionals to conduct business that would have otherwise been held in coffee shops. The Lively Hood has an engaging, comfortable, and friendly atmosphere with co-working, meeting, and event spaces. The bookstore will be the second location for Changing Hands Bookstore.
The Newton is just off of the light rail at the corner of Third Avenue and Camelback Road in an area that was described by Jon Kitchell of Venue Projects as a stretch of the light rail that has not yet benefitted from traffic driven by the Phoenix community. “But a new energy is back to Camelback Road,” according to Kitchell, with the opening of these three businesses at the Beef Eaters’ location.
John Douglas will be the lead in construction for The Newton. Douglas also has worked with the Heard Museum and the Desert Botanical Garden, to name a few. Douglas will be working in collaboration with Venue Projects, co-founded by Kitchell and business partner Lorenzo Perez.
Perez said that The Newton will have a similar feel to The Windsor, Venue Projects’ previous endeavor. Having exposed materials worked well with The Windsor, and the Queen Creek adobe, bolted posts, and beams of Beef Eaters will be a prominent feature in The Newton’s image, according to Perez.
The former restaurant will be renovated using restored redwood, leather booths, and antique chandeliers from the original Beef Eaters building. “We are salvage hounds,” said Douglas. “We love finding materials worthy of putting back into a building.” Construction on The Newton is due to begin in April.
Everyone involved in The Newton project has memorable ties to Beef Eaters. “This place will be about ‘going it’ with others,” said Shannon Scutari, part of the Sustainable Communities Collaborative and a financial investor in The Newton. “Why ever it is, you’re here and you will continue to come here because you feel connected to this place. We will build on these memories for decades and decades and decades.”
Resources: thenewtonphx.com
