LA-based Fenix Development broke ground on Phase 1 of The Watermark | Tempe at the north bank of Tempe Town Lake. The first phase of the 1.9M SF mixed-use development will include 250K SF of office, 44K SF of high-end restaurant and boutique retail service space, and 360 apartments.

Future phases will include a second 360K SF office tower, an additional 20K SF of restaurant and retail, and a 170-room business-class hotel. Fenix Development will deliver Phase 1 in the fall of 2018.

“This land has sat vacant and underutilized since the days of the Devil House and Club Rio,” Fenix Development project manager Mike Loretz said. “The Watermark, a live-work-play environment, represents a new chapter in the history of North Tempe.”

The project was designed by Nelsen Partners, Design Workshop, Erickson and Meeks Engineering and PK Associates to be Tempe’s first vertically integrated mixed-use development. It is being built by Okland Construction.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Mike Beall, Chris Walker, Sean Spellman and Jeff Wentworth are the office space leasing agents, while Brent Mallonee and Golden St. John have the retail leasing assignment for The Watermark | Tempe.