Tempe's Mill Avenue is becoming the new downtown Scottsdale. Just ask 29-year-old Megan Mahoney, a former Scottsdale club-hopper, who sings the praises of the bar- and club-filled street, which has long been a popular college hangout due to its proximity to ASU. "There's been a big change down here over the last two years," Mahoney, a Tempe resident who works as a dental hygienist, says between sips of a cosmopolitan martini at Mill Avenue lounge Suite 301. "The street is classier. It's not so corporate anymore. There's more lounges now.

"There's less college kids at the bars and more of a mix of ages. I think people are seeing the changes the city has made and coming out in droves now. Mill is giving Old Town Scottsdale a run for their money."

Indeed. On this Saturday night, Suite 301 is filled with well-dressed people in their 20s to 30s who mingle inside the posh lounge or on the patio.

Suite 301 is one of several new bars, including Zuma Grill and the Cherry Lounge & Pit, that have added some Scottsdale flair to Mill Avenue.

The three lounges are classier than typical Mill offerings like Margarita Rocks and Fat Tuesday's, and provide an alternative destination for those hoping to avoid the college scene, says 31-year-old John Lambert of Gilbert.

"You can't avoid the college crowd on Mill," Lambert says. "However, you can avoid the Margarita Rocks, Library (Bar & Grill) and Tavern (on Mill) spots that they're all at. You still get a little of that at the lounges like Zuma, but not as much. There's a more sophisticated crowd there."

Brian Roehrich, who owns popular East Valley night spots Dos Gringos Trailer Park, Dos Gringos and Sugar Daddy's, opened the Cherry Lounge & Pit at 411 S. Mill - formerly housing Club Level - in December.

Roehrich says he wants to try his hand at Mill Avenue night life because it has changed dramatically over the last couple of years.

"When we (Dos Gringos Trailer Park) were on University, that's as close to Mill as I wanted to get because the clientele wasn't there," he says. "It was a lot of kids cruising, and it just wasn't the right kind of scene. ... I think a lot of the majority of the people were leaving Tempe to go out and party. They were going to Scottsdale.

"And now a lot of the people that go to ASU and even a lot more people from the surrounding areas are going to Tempe instead of going to Scottsdale."

Why the change?

Roehrich says the night-life shift can't be credited to just one thing.

"I think taking (Mill) down to one lane each way and getting rid of all of the cruising certainly helped," he says. "And getting some nicer bars on the street helped. Plus, with the .08 (DUI law), people don't want to drive out to Scottsdale anymore.

"I think people are just tired of the Scottsdale kind of attitude. In Tempe, you can still go out and get good drinks for a good price and you're not putting up with the high-dollar Scottsdale bars and that whole prestige of being in Scottsdale.

"Finally, people are going, 'Hey, let's stick a little closer to home.' "

More mature Mill
Damon Scott, general manager at the hip Zuma Grill, which recently celebrated its first anniversary, says the popular Tempe street has improved.

"You're starting to see the 75-cent and 50-cent beer places go away and be replaced with a far more mature, upscale night-life option, something that's on the level of being able to compete with everything that goes on north of Indian School Road," he says.

Tempe's chic Zuma Grill is one of the more crowded places on Mill Avenue, along with the neighboring Cherry Lounge & Pit and Suite 301. The bar features DJs and live music. (Joe Trevino/Special to Get Out)

Scott, who used to run Scottsdale nightspots Next and The Crown Room, says that the new condo complexes going up and the addition of the light rail will continue to transform Mill Avenue.

"You've got the condos that are going up at a breakneck speed," he says. "Those condos are not going to be cheap. Those aren't going to be college students that are staying in there, so we're starting to see an influx of a little older and a little more affluent crowd. I really feel like with the light rail that's coming into Tempe, Tempe is going to be the new downtown of Phoenix."

Scott says that Mill Avenue is finally able to compete with downtown Scottsdale night life.

"I bet that the people in old town Scottsdale are looking at us now as a competitor because their customers are," he says. "(Mill Avenue) is finally offering a product worth competing with those things in Scottsdale and people are finally starting to stick around."

Mill offers one-stop night-life options, Roehrich says.

"You can still go out and do all your bar-hopping and get everything you want right there on Mill Avenue," he says. "A lot of those bars complement each other and there's not a lot of competition."

Trend for 2007
Zuma's Scott predicts Mill Avenue night life will continue to mature in the coming year.

"I see things continuing on the path that they're currently on," he says. "I definitely think there's going to be some new offerings as far as options go. ... Zuma is planning on a new concept for Mill Avenue in the next year or so. It's going to be the next level."

"I think (Mill clubs) are going to keep cleaning up without trying to take you to the cleaners," Roehrich adds, noting that the clubs will have to try to stay fresh to survive on the ever-changing street.

"You've gotta stay fresh," he says. "A lot of the other bar owners were happy to see Cherry open up because it's so different. You keep on getting something that's fresh in there and it's going to create more of an energy."

Former Scottsdale clubgoer Hannah Mission, who says Cherry Lounge & Pit is her new favorite nightspot, says that it's only a matter of time before Mill offers an almost identical night life to downtown Scottsdale.

"We're getting there," says Mission, 27, of Mesa. "There's three or four upscale clubs now, and I think the other bars are starting to catch on to the lounge trend. It's big in Scottsdale and it's going to be big in Tempe."

Where the action is
The Cherry Lounge & Pit, 411 S. Mill Ave., Tempe, (480) 966-3573 and www.thecherryloungeaz.com

Suite 301, 501 S. Mill Ave., Tempe, (480) 967-3060

Zuma Grill, 605 S. Mill Ave., Tempe, (480) 829-6775 and www.zumagrill.com

 

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