Mario Kart-inspired apartments planned for Roosevelt Row in Phoenix

An apartment building inspired by Mario Kart is planned for the Roosevelt Row Arts District, and the team behind the project hopes it inspires some more interesting architecture in the Phoenix area.

The building, called Rainbow Road after the final course in all of the Mario Kart games, is the first Phoenix project for both Zac Cohen and Lev Libeskind, the developer and architect, respectively, who have worked together in other states and internationally.

“I’d lived in Phoenix before and my father lived in Phoenix for a long time, so I was very familiar,” said Cohen, who lived and worked in Europe before moving back to Phoenix. “Finally, there is some activity in downtown Phoenix.”

Cohen, managing partner of InveStellar Corp., and Libeskind, head of Libeskind Studio Design and son of renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, “share a vision” for the benefits of high-quality architecture in a community, Cohen said.

“Architecture is the mother of all art,” Cohen said. "These are livable works of art.”

Phoenix has an opportunity to be a center for high-quality architecture as the city grows, the two said.

“Phoenix is a young city,” Libeskind said. “I live in Italy, where cities are thousands of years old. You can bring in really great art and architecture.”

The complex is planned on a site near First and Portland streets that totals about a one-third acre. It will include 36 apartment units and a commercial space on the ground floor that likely will be a restaurant or coffee shop. The units will range from one to three bedrooms, and some of the two- and three-bedroom units will be multistory lofts with video-game-inspired stairs.

The building will include a courtyard and rooftop, which the two plan to open to the public on First Fridays for art displays and events.

The courtyard will feature its own rainbow road, going from the interior courtyard to the sidewalk, done in the same colors as the video game.

“We intend for the project not just to be used by residents but by the community,” Cohen said.

Libeskind said he has now visited Phoenix many times to get an idea of what will fit on the site and in the district.

“I would never start a project without going there first,” he said. “As an architect, I know that pictures aren’t enough. You have to understand the locals. You have to understand the place.”

The site is already zoned to allow a much larger apartment building, so the Rainbow Road development does not have to go through a rezoning process, Cohen said. The group submitted its plans for the project in December and expects to receive permits in the next few weeks.

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Construction is planned to start in the second quarter of 2023 and be completed in the second quarter of 2024. Cohen said rents at the building would be comparable with other market-rate apartments in the area.

Developing a smaller building presents some unique challenges, as the project has less room to work, Libeskind said.

“We have more constraints to create this interesting, shifting rectangle,” Libeskind said.

Libeskind said he wants to replicate some of the lasting feelings people have from other art forms when they see his architecture.

“It is so crucial to how people interact with their environment,” he said. “It is a public art. I try to design for everyone. It used to be an art just for kings and queens, but we think it should be a democratic art.”

The project is a first for the two in Phoenix, but they have several other projects together in Florida, Texas and international metro areas like Mexico City.

The two also are working on another project in the Roosevelt Row Arts District that is in the conceptual planning phase.

Reach the reporter at cvanek@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter @CorinaVanek.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mario Kart-inspired apartments planned for downtown Phoenix