Walk through Biltmore Fashion Park at 6:30 on a Wednesday evening and you'll see a cluster of runners stretching near the center court, waiting on the Phoenix Run Club to kick off Midweek Miles. Look past them toward the old Saks Fifth Avenue storefront and the windows are still dark. That gap has been sitting there since spring, and nobody walking the property this month has any real reason to think it's closing soon.
That contrast is the actual story of the season. Not a grand reopening. Not a marquee tenant. A 92,000-square-foot hole in the property's biggest storefront, and a weekly habit that formed anyway, right around it.
The Anchor That's Been Dark Since April
Saks Fifth Avenue anchored Biltmore Fashion Park for thirty years, ever since the store moved into the old I. Magnin space in 1995. Its parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2026, and by mid-February the Biltmore location was named as one of eight stores nationwide slated to close. The clearance sale started within days. By late April, the store had ceased operations and 67 employees had lost their jobs, and Arizona was left without a Saks Fifth Avenue location anywhere in the state.
That was five months ago. As of this fall, RED Development, which took full ownership of the property in 2024, hasn't announced what fills the space. Everything else the landlord has touched this year moved faster. Herman Miller signed a lease and opened its Arizona debut showroom next to Ralph Lauren in late February, on schedule. FP Movement and [solidcore] both broke ground on their buildouts in late February with spring openings targeted, and by the time you're reading this, both should be running. Small and mid-size leases at this property have been closing in a matter of months. The 92,000-square-foot box has sat empty for twice that long with no public plan.
If you live in the neighborhood, that asymmetry tells you something the retail press releases don't say directly: filling wellness studios and design showrooms next to Life Time is easy money for a landlord with a clear tenant pipeline. Replacing a department-store anchor is a different kind of deal, one that usually takes longer to structure and longer still to announce. Don't expect news on that corner before next year.
What Actually Fills the Calendar Now
While the anchor space waits, the property's actual rhythm has shifted toward something smaller and more frequent. Every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., Phoenix Run Club leads Midweek Miles from the center court, a free weekly run open to any pace. It's a standing fixture now, not a one-off activation, the kind of thing you plan a Wednesday around rather than a special occasion. The property has also run Sip & Shop evenings this year, letting shoppers carry a drink between stores instead of confining it to a single restaurant patio.
Both moves point the same direction. Biltmore Fashion Park has spent 2026 building itself into a fitness and wellness cluster around its existing Life Time anchor. Lululemon doubled its footprint from 2,738 to 5,666 square feet, with the expanded store opening in fall 2025. FP Movement and [solidcore] filled in around it this spring. Mike Ebert, the managing partner at RED Development, framed the strategy directly: the additions reflect brands "where design, wellness and community intersect."
Here's a snapshot of what's actually on the calendar this season, separate from anything still pending:
| What | Status | Why it matters if you live here |
|---|---|---|
| Midweek Miles run club | Weekly, Wednesdays 6:30 p.m. | A standing fixture, not a seasonal promotion |
| Saks Fifth Avenue space | Vacant since late April 2026 | No announced tenant as of this fall |
| FP Movement / [solidcore] | Targeted spring 2026 opening | Should be operating by now, filling out the wellness cluster |
| La La Land Kind Café | Still anticipated, no confirmed date | Watch for an opening announcement near True Food Kitchen |
| Fà-me Café | Relocating Q4 2026 | Moving from North Central to 24th and Camelback |
| Phoenix 10K/5K/Half/Full Marathon | Nov. 9, 2026 | Starts and finishes at the property |
The Marathon Claims Your Saturday, Not Just the Course
Mark November 9 differently than a typical weekend. That morning, Biltmore Fashion Park serves as the start and finish line for the 50th Annual Phoenix 10K, 5K, Half and Full Marathon. This isn't a shopping center hosting a booth near the entrance. The property is the literal anchor point of the course, which means Camelback Road and the surrounding blocks will carry runner traffic, road closures, and parking disruptions well before most residents are usually up.
If your regular Saturday routine runs through this stretch of Camelback, plan for a later start or a different route that morning. The race has run for decades in the Phoenix area, but this is the anniversary year, and the property's role as the literal finish line means the usual quiet Saturday morning parking lot will look nothing like itself.
A Legacy Breakfast Spot Chooses This Corner
One relocation says more about the neighborhood's direction than any press release. Fà-me Café, the breakfast and lunch spot that's operated on North Central Avenue for years, is moving to the 24th at Camelback office complex sometime in the fourth quarter of 2026. That's a business with an established customer base and no obvious reason to move, choosing to plant itself at the densest commercial intersection in the district instead of staying put on Central.
A long-running independent operator relocating toward a corner that already has an empty department store and a still-forming wellness cluster isn't a contradiction. It's a bet that foot traffic here is trending up regardless of what happens with the Saks box, and that the daily crowd walking between a Wednesday run club, a fitness studio, and a coffee counter is worth more than staying in a familiar spot across town.
The Actual Read
None of this adds up to a single grand transformation story. The property's biggest storefront has been dark for five months with no fix in sight, while everything smaller around it, from a running club to a boutique fitness studio to a legacy café choosing to move closer, has kept moving without waiting for an answer. That's the version of this fall worth knowing if you already call this corner of Camelback home: the calendar filled itself in before the landlord filled the box.
If you're weighing what any of this means for property values or timing a move in or out of the neighborhood, that's a different conversation, and one Jonny West Real Estate has every day. Schedule a free consultation and we'll walk through what the Biltmore's shifting retail mix and dining scene actually mean for your specific address.
