What's Changing at Biltmore Fashion Park in 2026, and What It Means for the Neighborhood

Saks Fifth Avenue has anchored Biltmore Fashion Park since the center opened in 1963. This year it is leaving. In its place, the Crown Jewel is quietly becoming something different than the department-store luxury mall Biltmore Estates residents have walked to for two generations.

If you live here, you already know the shopping center as an extension of the neighborhood rather than a destination. That relationship is not going away. What is changing is the mix of tenants at the corner of 24th Street and Camelback, and the logic behind that mix. The 2026 lineup leans toward wellness studios, design showrooms, cafés, and curated art. It reads less like a mall and more like a walkable commons for the people who live within a mile of it.

Here is what to expect between now and the end of the year.

The Saks departure is the story under the story

On February 10, 2026, it was announced that Saks Fifth Avenue would be closing as part of a plan to close 8 stores nationwide. The Biltmore location is Arizona's only Saks, which makes this less a corporate footnote than a real shift in what the center is for.

Saks arrived with the property at the beginning. Biltmore Fashion Park opened on 31 acres in what was once considered the outskirts of Phoenix in 1963, with I. Magnin and Saks Fifth Avenue as the original anchors. A department-store anchor pulls a specific kind of traffic: destination shoppers who drive in, park, and buy fashion under one roof. That model has been fading nationally for a decade. The Biltmore closure just makes the local version visible.

The interesting question is what fills the gap in customer logic, not just the square footage. Look at what RED Development has signed and the answer takes shape.

Wellness, not fashion, is the new anchor category

Count the openings by category and the pattern is hard to miss.

RED Development has signed new leases with FP Movement, the Free People brand known for stylish, performance-ready activewear, along with [solidcore]. Both concepts are expected to open in spring 2026. FP Movement will take a space between Rye 51 and Warby Parker, while [solidcore] will debut a studio near alo.

Alo Yoga is arriving later this year with a 4,349-square-foot store featuring the brand's full range of activewear, accessories, and clean beauty products. Lululemon is more than doubling its footprint from 2,738 to 5,666 square feet, with the expanded store debuting in Fall 2025.

That is four activewear or fitness tenants concentrated in one center, layered on top of the existing Diamond-Level Life Time, which includes engaging programming in a resort-like atmosphere and a rooftop beach club with stunning views of the Camelback Mountains. If you already walk over for a Saturday class, the density is about to make the trip more useful. If you don't, the sheer footprint of wellness square footage tells you where the center is placing its bet on how Biltmore residents actually spend their time.

Design, art, and coffee filling the cultural side

The other half of the new mix is quieter but arguably more interesting for anyone who reads this as a neighborhood, not a shopping list.

Herman Miller opened in late February in a showroom next to Ralph Lauren, bringing its globally recognized ergonomic furniture and human-centered design to the Valley for the first time, with signature pieces including the Aeron Chair. It is a design destination in a spot that used to belong to fashion. That substitution is worth pausing on.

Then there is the gallery. Biltmore Fine Art, a limited-time pop-up gallery, is located across from Pomo Pizzeria. The gallery is led by veteran gallerist Robert Casterline, co-founder of Casterline|Goodman Gallery, which has established locations in Aspen and Napa. The Phoenix pop-up features rotating exhibitions and curated works, drawing on Casterline's experience representing post-war and contemporary artists and advising collectors nationwide.

Casterline is not a rotating pop-up name. Aspen and Napa are peers, not accidents. That the gallery chose Biltmore Fashion Park for its Phoenix presence says something about the collector base already living within walking distance.

On the food side, La La Land Kind Café, which recently opened at Kierland Commons, is expected to open later this year near True Food Kitchen. The Texas-based cafe is known for its bright yellow interiors, Instagram-worthy drinks, and heartfelt mission to support foster youth.

A quick reference for the year

If you want the calendar in one place:

Two events worth putting on the calendar

Two additions to the programming side are meaningful because they treat the center as a public gathering space rather than a strip of stores.

The first is the Art Walk. Biltmore Fashion Park introduced Art Walk at Biltmore Fashion Park, a free Sunday afternoon series presented in collaboration with Axiom Contemporary Gallery and Artlink. The inaugural Art Walk was scheduled for March 15 from 1 to 5 p.m., featuring rotating curated exhibitions by Arizona artists displayed throughout the outdoor shopping center. The event invites collectors, shoppers, and neighborhood residents to experience local art in a walkable, open-air setting.

The second is a wine festival worth a walk over. On March 28, Biltmore Fashion Park hosted the Arizona WineGrowers Festival, an immersive tasting event featuring more than 40 Arizona wineries and highlighting the state's growing wine industry.

Neither event is particularly transactional. Both signal a shift in what the center wants to be known for: a place you spend a Sunday afternoon, not a place you make a targeted trip to buy a specific thing.

There is also a low-key convenience that fits the same theme. Shoppers can now Sip and Shop at Biltmore Fashion Park by sipping on their favorite alcoholic beverages while strolling through the center. A small policy change, but one that assumes the center is a walk, not a mission.

The ten-story question sitting behind all of this

Every one of these changes is happening under a larger plan that has not fully surfaced yet.

In late July 2024, the mall was sold to RED Development, a local real estate company. On November 11, 2024, the mall's new owner announced it would be redeveloped. One of the plans is a ten-story tower, which might include a mix of retail and restaurants, office, hotel, and residential space.

A ten-story mixed-use tower in the middle of the Camelback Corridor is a different scale of change than a new yoga studio. If it happens, the character of the walk from the neighborhood to the center will change more than any tenant swap on the tenant sheet. If you own a home nearby, the timeline and massing of that project are worth watching over the next twelve to eighteen months. RED's own leadership frames the current tenanting philosophy plainly. "These latest additions reflect the spirit of modern luxury, where design, wellness, and community intersect," says Mike Ebert, managing partner at RED Development.

That phrasing is not marketing filler once you see it play out on the tenant list.

What this means if you live in Biltmore Estates

A shopping center evolving away from a single department-store anchor toward a cluster of wellness, design, art, and café tenants is a center reorienting around the people who already live within walking distance. That is a good sign for how the neighborhood is being valued by the people investing in it.

For a homeowner, three practical read-throughs:

Your daily amenity mix is getting deeper on wellness and casual dining and lighter on traditional department-store shopping. If you use Saks, plan accordingly this year. If you use Life Time, the reinforcement of that category is meaningful.

Culture programming that draws collectors and artists to a walkable open-air setting is the kind of soft amenity that quietly supports long-term neighborhood identity. Casterline choosing to plant a flag here is a signal worth noticing.

The ten-story tower is the wild card. Whatever it turns into, it will define the eastern edge of the neighborhood experience for a long time. Details are still emerging, and the public timeline is worth tracking as it comes into focus.

The Crown Jewel is not dimming. It is being reset. For anyone who lives close enough to walk over on a Sunday, that reset is happening in your favor.

If you'd like to talk through what any of this means for your home or a move within the Biltmore corridor, Sue Shapiro is always glad to compare notes over coffee. Let's Connect.