GPS City GuidePhoenixArizona Center

Stop 37 of 39 · Phoenix audio walking tour

Arizona Center

downtown Phoenix · 1989 · opening as festival marketplace

What you'll hear here: about 90 seconds on Arizona Center — the story behind what you're looking at, playing hands-free as you arrive.

Arizona Center opened here in 1989 and 1990 as a festival marketplace and office complex, a mixed-use development of open-air shopping and enclosed offices that spreads out in front of you. Listen for the echoes of a once-bustling retail arcade: as of February 2026 the mall portion has failed and is being redeveloped into a community space, and PALMTower, part of that redevelopment, was completed in 2024. Two office towers rise above you.

One Arizona Center, completed in 1989, is 260 feet (79 meters) tall with 19 floors and houses legal firms with Snell & Wilmer the largest, alongside tenants such as the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (Visit Phoenix) and ASU. Two Arizona Center, completed in 1990, stands 290 feet (88 meters) tall with 20 floors and serves as the headquarters of Arizona Public Service, APS. Retail once offered a variety of restaurants, boutiques and tourist shops, most of which are now closed.

A large central plaza holds richly landscaped courtyards and fountains designed by SWA Group, which won a National Merit Award. Notice the two towers rising above the fountains and courtyards of a plaza still finding its next chapter.

Where it is

Coordinates
33.4537, -112.0693
Area
downtown Phoenix
Era
1989 · opening as festival marketplace
Start the Phoenix tour →

Three stops free. No account needed. The audio plays itself as you walk.