Hotel, apartments planned near downtown represent decades of work for Phoenix family
A plan to develop workforce housing and a hotel in the Eastlake neighborhood has been generations in the making for Virgil Berry Jr.
The Phoenix City Council unanimously approved Berry’s proposal, which includes two buildings planned on either side of 13th Street between Washington and Jefferson streets, at its Jan. 3 meeting. The project is planned on 4.7 acres of land, which the Berry family assembled over decades.
“My father slowly started buying the land around us,” Berry said of various parcels around his father’s former office, at 1321 E. Washington. “He didn’t want others buying properties next to us.”
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Building a real estate business in a time of redlining
Berry’s father, Virgil Sr., moved to Phoenix in 1950 and graduated from both Phoenix College and Arizona State University, then called Arizona State College. He worked for Lincoln Ragsdale Sr., a business owner and civil rights leader in Phoenix, before starting a real estate brokerage and insurance agency with two other business partners: Travis Williams and Clyde Webb. In 1960, he opened his own real estate company with his wife and brother.
Virgil Sr. started working in real estate years before the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibited discrimination in selling, renting and financing real estate based on race, sex, religion and other demographics.
Because he was Black, and many buildings and homes had covenants that prohibited sale on the basis of race, he could not buy and sell real estate north of downtown. Banks and other lending institutions could also discriminate in financing based on race at that time.
“South Phoenix really was not developed, so we were really relegated to this area,” Berry said of the Eastlake neighborhood east of downtown, a historically Black community.
Preserving a building with Black history
As part of the development plan, Berry also received a historical preservation overlay for Virgil Sr.’s former office, 1321 E. Washington Street, which also played a role in Black history in Phoenix.
The building was built as a residence for a prominent Black doctor, Nello Greenlee. After Greenlee died, Roy A. Lee, principal of Carver High School, a segregated school, owned the home. Wade Hammond, a prominent civil rights leader in Phoenix, also owned the home for a time.
Now, the building has a barber shop in it, but Berry said it is possible Berry Realty might “move back home” into the building after the redevelopment, which will include razing the firm’s current office.
When planning the redevelopment project, Berry reached out to longtime associate Kenny Harris, who had previously served as city engineer for Phoenix and former assistant county manager for Maricopa County. Harris has been working with Berry on the project and throughout the entitlement approval process with the city.
Berry, the former chair of the Phoenix Planning Commission, said the pair were able to bring years of expertise to the project, which will be a legacy development for his family. Berry’s son, Virgil Berry III, is also involved with the project and works as a property manager with Berry Realty.
“I had to have someone I could trust,” Berry said. “We are talking about family property. We are talking about something I want to pass down to my children.”
Berry said minorities often do not get a chance to work on projects like his, which represents generational effort.
“Rarely do you get a chance to put a group together like this,” he said.
Hotel, apartments and restaurants planned
The development, which Berry has been calling Eastlake on 13th, will have a 150-room hotel east of 13th Street and a 200-unit workforce housing development on the west side of the street. The buildings will have views of landmarks around the Phoenix area, including Camelback Mountain, South Mountain and downtown Phoenix.
The project spans from Washington Street to the north to Jefferson Street to the south and is sandwiched between the light rail lines, with two nearby stations.
The project was designed to take advantage of the access to transit, giving easy access to hotel guests coming from the airport and for residents to get to nearby attractions.
“We are one stop away from the Fry’s grocery store and 10 minutes on the light rail away from the airport,” Berry said.
Both buildings will have space on the ground floor for retail shops and restaurants, which Berry wants to pay homage to the Eastlake neighborhood.
“I want to attract restaurants that tell the story of the Eastlake neighborhood in a diverse way,” he said, adding that he wants the place to be a “destination” for people seeking out food from diverse cultures and local businesses.
Trying to benefit Eastlake
Being an asset to the Eastlake neighborhood is important to Berry, who serves on the Eastlake Park Neighborhood Association.
“We pride ourselves in not only being good businesspeople, but good community people,” Berry said. “One of my goals has been to bring out the history of Eastlake, that it’s a great place to live, it’s a diverse place to live.
Through his work with the neighborhood association and connections with the city, Berry is aiming to have art installed at Eastlake Park to honor prominent figures in the area's history. He has also developed affordable housing in the area and plans to add more with the new project.
He knows of many multi-generational businesses in the neighborhood and said he expects to see more high-quality development coming to the area from people who have deep roots in the community, like him.
Now that they have the land assembled and the zoning in place, Berry said he and his team are working to find a financing partner to sign on to the project. So far, the hotel does not have a brand associated with it, but Berry said they are in talks with different companies to find a flag for the hotel.
Berry said he does not have a timeline yet for when construction will begin, but said he wants to move forward as soon as possible after securing financing.
Reach the reporter at cvanek@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter @CorinaVanek.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Longtime Phoenix business owner plans hotel, apartments in Eastlake
