Downtown Chandler This Fall: The Arts Center Is Back, and Arizona Avenue Is Changing Around It

The Uncommon, Tipsy Egg and Recreo Cantina served their last customers at the end of business on Saturday, Aug. 29. The Uncommon held the southeast corner of Arizona Avenue and Boston Street, with Tipsy Egg right next door to the south. Seven weeks later, on Saturday, Oct. 17, the Chandler Center for the Arts hosted its Center Stage Gala, its first event after more than four months closed.

Those two dates explain downtown Chandler this fall. The theater at 250 N. Arizona Ave. is back with a full October and November, and it now sets the evening schedule downtown. The restaurant corner that anchored much of downtown's nightlife for years is empty, and the new places nearby are arriving one building at a time.

Four months, $3.1 million, and a monsoon

The arts center closed June 14 and was scheduled to reopen Oct. 15. AZ Big Media put the project at $3.1 million. The City of Chandler paid for it, with funding from the Chandler Unified School District offsetting part of the cost.

Some of the work is easy to see:

• Replacement theater seating, with renumbered seats meant to make finding your row easier
• New carpet and flooring
• Upgraded lighting
• Refreshed interior colors in the theater and the foyer

Some of it you won't see: stage and rigging work, electrical upgrades and fire-sprinkler improvements. A new wireless sound system means performers can now wear wireless microphones during shows. A monsoon storm also tore into the roof partway through the project, which added a new roof and water repairs to the job, according to ABC15. The project still stayed on schedule.

Julianna Crespo, the center's new general manager, told ABC15 what returning visitors will see first:

"They can expect beautiful new seats, an updated color scheme inside the theater, cup holders, new carpeting, the walls will be a little bit of a different color on the foyer as well as inside the theater."

The City announced Crespo's appointment on July 23, with a start date of Aug. 10. She succeeds Michelle Mac Lennan, and she took over midway through construction.

The first weekend back on the main stage

The gala was the soft start. The first public performances in the renovated theater come this weekend. Shanghai Ballet performs Giselle on Friday, Oct. 23, and Sara Evans plays Sunday, Oct. 25. Both are on the Chandler Center for the Arts calendar.

The free Community Open House falls between them on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 3 to 6 p.m. Staff will lead tours of the theater, Crespo will be there to meet visitors, and Artist in Residence Ashli St. Armant, who created NORTH: The Musical, will also be on hand. There is no formal program, so guests can come and go during the three hours. The City's page includes a link to reserve a spot.

The open house is the only time this fall to walk the renovated theater without a ticket. You can also try out the renumbered seating before you buy seats for a show later in the season.

The corner at Arizona and Boston is between tenants

The closures shape the walk to and from the theater. The Uncommon served lunch and dinner with a full bar, and Tipsy Egg next door was its breakfast-hours companion. Phoenix New Times described The Uncommon as a '90s- and 2000s-themed bar with live music and arcade games, and Recreo Cantina as a Tex-Mex spot built around a large patio strung with lights.

The same outlet reported that all three restaurants were co-owned by their landlord, Niels Kreipke of Desert Viking Development. That makes the spaces easier to fill than a typical vacancy, because the owner decides what goes in next. Chris Purcell, who manages concepts for Kreipke, told Mouth by Southwest that the closures were meant to make room for new concepts planned for late 2026 or early 2027. He said details would come later. No names have been announced.

For this fall's shows, that leaves the most visible corner on the stretch dark while the theater's calendar is at its busiest.

The old Serrano's building has local owners and a new tenant

Tap N Taco opened on Monday, Oct. 12, a few doors from that corner, on the east side of Arizona Avenue just south of Boston Street. It took over the former Serrano's Mexican Food Restaurant building.

Tap N Taco is the second location for a New Mexico brand that four partners launched in Rio Rancho in 2021. One of those partners, Joshua Martinez, and Anna Martinez own Safe T Professionals, a staffing company in downtown Chandler, and they bought the 13,250-square-foot Serrano's property in 2024, according to Mouth by Southwest. Tap N Taco takes over the restaurant side of the building. The former banquet halls are slated to become shared offices for local entrepreneurs.

The building now has local downtown business owners, with a restaurant on one side and shared offices planned for the other.

The menu fits a quick bite before an 8 p.m. curtain. It centers on $2 street tacos: asada, al pastor, barbacoa, chicken, sausage, potato, and beer-battered shrimp or cod. Quesadillas are $7, and loaded fries, nachos and baked potatoes are $8.50 each. Birria tacos with consommé are $9.99 on Mondays and Tuesdays, and there is a full bar.

Greenwood Brewing is still on the way

Another new place is announced but not open yet. Greenwood Brewing plans a taproom at 55 N. Arizona Place in The AJ, led by founder Megan Greenwood. Phoenix New Times reported plans for an indoor-outdoor space with beer, a wine program, small bites and takeaway picnic baskets. As of mid-October, Greenwood's website still lists the Chandler location as "coming soon," with no opening date or hours posted.

So for now, a night out before a show has fewer options right around Arizona and Boston than it did in July, plus one new taco spot, with more announced but not yet open.

Planning around the stage through Nov. 7

The busiest stretch of the fall calendar starts at the arts center and spreads to Dr. A.J. Chandler Park and the City Hall courtyard. These are the dated events still ahead as of Thursday, Oct. 22:

Two dates are worth planning around. On Sunday, Oct. 25, the #AZ48 race runs through downtown on the same day Sara Evans plays the arts center, so check the race route before you drive in. On Sunday, Nov. 1, the two arts center events run back to back. Entre Dos Mundos fills the terrace from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. with vendors, food, music, storytelling, art and a community altar. Half an hour later, the arts center and C.A.L.L.E. de Arizona present the Mariachi and Folklórico Festival, with Mariachi Pueblo Viejo, Mariachi Nueva Fusion, Evelyn Ozuna and Ballet Folklorico Quetzalli-AZ. One afternoon covers both.

The recurring events run alongside all of this. The Downtown Chandler Farmers Market is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Dr. A.J. Chandler Park, and Third Thursdays run from 5 to 9 p.m., both from October through May. The October Third Thursday was Oct. 15, so the next one is Thursday, Nov. 19.

From the arts center's Oct. 17 reopening through early November, the stage gives downtown a reason to be busy most weekends. Tap N Taco is open nearby, Greenwood Brewing is still on the way, and the corner at Arizona and Boston is waiting for concepts its owner plans for late 2026 or early 2027.

At Morales Group Real Estate, we follow downtown Chandler closely, from new owners on Arizona Avenue to the arts center's calendar. If you're thinking about how close you'd like to live to all of this, we're happy to talk it through with you. Contact Us.