"We're building more than a restaurant. We're creating a place to celebrate, gather, explore, shop, toast, and make memories."
That's Sheila Bryson, founder and CEO of Soul Hospitality Group, describing what's going into the old Preston's Steakhouse space at Pinnacle Peak and Pima. It's a strange thing to say about a single restaurant lease, and that's the point. What's happening on that corner this fall isn't a restaurant opening. It's a building deciding to stop being one thing.
If you've driven past The Citadel at 8700 E. Pinnacle Peak Road anytime in the last year, you've seen the empty storefront where Preston's used to be. It sat there long enough to become part of the landscape of the drive. What's replacing it, along with two other changes within a few miles, adds up to something more specific than "new restaurants opened." Three separate pieces of real estate along this corridor have all made the same bet at the same time: that North Scottsdale residents want a reason to come back on a Tuesday, not just a table on a Saturday.
The Building That Sat Empty for a Year
Preston's Steakhouse closed after more than a decade in that space, and the closure announcement pointed to the condition of the building and the repairs it needed, not a lack of customers. That distinction matters. A restaurant that closes because people stopped showing up gets replaced by another restaurant betting it can do better. A restaurant that closes because the physical building failed gets replaced by whoever is willing to rebuild the shell, and that opens the door to rethinking what the shell is for entirely.
Alma Scottsdale, which closed its Old Town location earlier this year, is the one rebuilding it. According to Bryson's comments to local outlets, the team is targeting an October 1 reopening at The Citadel, with construction progress potentially pushing that into early November. As of the last public update in late July, that was still the working timeline.
One Lease Becomes Four
What Alma is putting into that shell is not a like for like replacement of a steakhouse. The plan, per Bryson's announcement, includes a Southwest-inspired steakhouse built around wood-fired cooking and flavors pulled from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Northern Mexico. Above it, Copper Club, a rooftop lounge with live music and desert views. Attached to it, a tequila and mezcal bar serving tastings alongside chef-made tacos. And tucked into the same building, the return of Barbwire Western Couture, a western fashion boutique Bryson previously operated, selling clothing, jewelry, boots, and hats.
Guests will reportedly be able to move between all four spaces while ordering off Alma's full menu, whether they're seated in the steakhouse, up on the roof, or at the tequila bar. That's a genuinely different piece of hospitality math than what sat in that building before.
| Preston's Steakhouse (closed) | Alma at The Citadel (targeting fall) | |
|---|---|---|
| Reason to visit | Dinner reservation | Coffee, cocktails, dinner, shopping, or all four |
| Typical visit length | A two-hour steak dinner | Designed to hold you longer, across zones |
| What's for sale | Food | Food, drinks, live music, retail |
| Who it's built for | Special occasions | Repeat weekly visits |
The Citadel itself sits within two miles of DC Ranch, Troon, and Estancia, with an average household income around $159,000 in the immediate trade area, according to commercial leasing data for the property. That context matters less for what's opening than for why an operator would spend money rebuilding a failed shell into a four-in-one venue instead of just leasing it to the next steakhouse concept. The math only works if the surrounding households are the kind that will come back often enough to fill a rooftop bar on a random Wednesday.
Two Miles South, a Coffee Bar Where There Used to Be Dirt
The second corner is a few miles down Scottsdale Road, at the southwest corner of Loop 101 and Scottsdale Road, where a vacant pad became The Henry on March 18, 2026. It's a Fox Restaurant Concepts build, the company behind Flower Child and Blanco, and this is its first North Scottsdale location and third in the Valley.
What makes The Henry worth noting isn't the menu. It's the walk-up coffee bar built into a 7,000-square-foot, ground-up structure that also includes a front patio with a fireplace and an interior courtyard. Sam Fox, the company's founder, described the goal directly: a place where people gather morning to night, designed to feel familiar from day one rather than built around a single dinner service. A restaurant chain investing in a dedicated coffee counter, in a building it constructed from scratch on an empty lot, is a bet on daily habit rather than the occasional reservation.
The Shopping Center That Quietly Filled Up
The third corner is less a single opening and more a pattern completing itself. Sonora Village, the shopping center at Hayden Road and Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard anchored by Best Buy and Staples, added four tenants this year: Akamaru Japanese Restaurant, bb.q Chicken, Floor & Decor, and Dollar Tree. Akamaru, run by Chef Hiro, splits its day into two different restaurants under one roof, an onigirazu and donburi counter at lunch and a full izakaya service at night. Next door, bb.q Chicken brought its Korean fried chicken format and a drink menu built around soju and beer.
Marta Kenny, YAM Properties' director of real estate, said the additions were meant to "elevate the experience for North Scottsdale" and strengthen the center as a connected destination for residents. What's notable is the mix itself. A center anchored by Best Buy and Staples didn't backfill its last open suites with more of the same big-box tenants. It picked a chef-driven izakaya and a Korean fried chicken concept, the kind of tenants a leasing office chooses when it can afford to be selective rather than fill space with whoever signs first.
What This Actually Changes About Your Week
Put the three corners together and a resident of North Scottsdale can now build a full day along this stretch of road without merging onto the freeway toward Old Town, something that wasn't true a year ago.
- Morning: coffee at The Henry's walk-up bar at Scottsdale 101, without committing to a full brunch seating.
- Midday: lunch at Akamaru in Sonora Village, or a Korean fried chicken run at bb.q Chicken next door.
- Evening, once construction wraps: dinner at Alma's steakhouse, a drink at Copper Club on the roof, or a stop at the tequila bar, all under one roof at The Citadel.
None of those three stops existed in their current form twelve months ago. The corridor's old model asked you to drive somewhere for a specific occasion, most often south into Old Town for anything beyond a quick dinner. The new model is closer to what residents already have in their own neighborhoods: places built to be visited on a Tuesday for no particular reason, not just reserved for a Friday that requires planning.
What We Don't Know Yet
The one piece still in motion is timing. Alma's October 1 target comes directly from Bryson, and she's been upfront that construction could push the opening into early November. If you're planning around it, that's a two-month window, not a fixed date, and it's worth checking Alma's own updates before you build a Friday night around it.
The Henry and Sonora Village's new tenants are already open and running, so those two corners are simply worth adding to rotation now rather than waiting for anything.
None of this changes what North Scottsdale is. It changes how much of your week you can spend in it. If you're the kind of person who tracks a neighborhood by watching what gets built where the old steakhouse used to be, you already know that's usually the more honest signal than a listing price.
If you're watching these corners change and it has you thinking about what else might be shifting in North Scottsdale, from acreage near Rio Verde to estates closer to Pinnacle Peak, Clinton Miller tracks this market from the ground, not the spreadsheet. Reach out to request a confidential consultation.
