If you have mentioned to a neighbor that you are excited about the new restaurants opening in Paradise Valley this year, there is a decent chance you were both talking about different towns. One Paradise Valley is the low-density enclave between Camelback and Mummy Mountains, where Mountain Shadows and Kimpton Miralina actually sit. The other is a redevelopment a few blocks north on the former mall site at Cactus Road and Tatum Boulevard, branded "PV," and sitting inside Phoenix city limits.
Both are having genuine growth years. Almost none of that growth touches the other. And the single project most residents assume is the centerpiece of this moment, the Ritz-Carlton at The Palmeraie, is not open. It is sitting in bankruptcy court.
The development everyone has been watching for years is still working through Chapter 11. The one that quietly finished construction this year is a name a lot of longtime residents still don't recognize.
Same Name, Different City
The confusion is not really anyone's fault. "Paradise Valley" describes an actual municipality, incorporated for decades, with its own council and its own tax base. It also describes a marketing name that RED Development chose for its redevelopment of the old Paradise Valley Mall, a project that technically sits inside Phoenix.
The Ritz-Carlton and its retail district, The Palmeraie, are addressed at 7000 E. Lincoln Dr., on the border between Scottsdale and the Town of Paradise Valley. Life Time's new athletic club, by contrast, is at 12800 N. Tatum Blvd., firmly inside Phoenix. Different governments, different infrastructure, different planning departments. Same word on the sign.
What Finished Inside the Town This Year
Two of the town's actual resorts have real news, and neither required a bankruptcy filing to get there.
Kimpton Miralina Resort & Villas took over the former Scottsdale Plaza site and reopened in early 2026 after a reported $70 million transformation. As it stands, the property runs at 404 keys across six pools and 22 indoor and outdoor event venues. The final phase, running from the fourth quarter of 2026 into early 2027, adds 134 renovated Valley Villas and an onsen-inspired hotel within the hotel called The Enclave. It also brings Arizona's first Katsuya, a modern Japanese concept, alongside the resort's existing restaurant, Hecho Libre, from chef Wes Avila. Pairing the two makes Miralina one of the only resorts in town running two distinct chef-driven kitchens under one roof.
A short drive down Lincoln, Mountain Shadows has spent the year proving that a resort built for locals does not need a groundbreaking to stay relevant. The property, originally built in 1959 below Camelback Mountain and rebuilt from the ground up in 2017, earned a One MICHELIN Key distinction in 2025. Dining runs through Hearth '61 and, for the post-round crowd off The Short Course, Rusty's. Residents watching the calendar should note two windows closing soon. The Arizona resident summer rate, $159 on weekdays and $199 on weekends with the resort fee waived, runs through September 30. The Summer Golf Pass, priced at $399 for up to 36 holes a day, closes its window on September 20, just days from now.
If you want the town's actual resort lineup in one place, it still comes down to a short list:
- Mountain Shadows on Lincoln Drive, resident-facing pricing and a par-3 course
- Kimpton Miralina at the former Scottsdale Plaza site, mid-transformation with two kitchens landing by early 2027
- Camelback Inn and Sanctuary, the two destination properties that have anchored the town's dining scene for a decade before this year's expansion
A Few Blocks North, a Different City's Story
None of the "PV" redevelopment's momentum belongs to the town of Paradise Valley, even though the branding suggests otherwise. Life Time opened its club there on April 30, 2026, a 91,000-square-foot facility with a rooftop pool deck, a lap pool with lounge seating for 300, seven pickleball courts split between indoor and outdoor, and a recovery space with cold plunge and compression therapy. An 11-story, 327-unit residential tower called Life Time Living is planned next door, targeted for completion in 2027.
Harry & Izzy's, the Indianapolis steakhouse group, opened August 26, 2026, facing the development's central park. The Vig, the Arcadia-born tavern now expanding to its eighth Valley location, is expected to open on the same greenspace corner in late summer or early fall.
All of it is real. None of it is inside the Town of Paradise Valley. If you live south of the mountain and someone mentions the new steakhouse or the athletic club at "PV," they are describing a Phoenix address that happens to share a name with your town.
The Project Everyone Keeps Waiting On
The Palmeraie was supposed to be the story that made the rest of this moot. Planned across 122 acres between Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, the project includes a 215-room Ritz-Carlton, 80 branded villas, 32 estate homes, and a 29-acre retail and dining district meant to hold more than 15 restaurants. The anchor tenant, Mott 32, would be the Hong Kong-born Cantonese concept's first Arizona location and only its second in the country, built around a 42-day apple wood roasted Peking duck carved tableside and a dim sum program that includes a soft quail egg tucked into an Iberico pork siu mai.
None of it has opened. On November 4, 2025, developer Five Star Development filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Southern District of Texas, a move that halted a foreclosure attempt by lender Madison Realty Capital, which had filed a notice of trustee's sale that May, according to reporting on the filing from azcentral.com. More than 30 affiliated entities filed alongside Five Star, with estimated assets between $500 million and $1 billion set against similar liabilities.
The court has allowed some progress. In December 2025, a bankruptcy judge ruled that villa sales could proceed with proceeds held in escrow, and by mid-2026 dozens of the 80 planned villas had closed even while resort construction stayed paused. In July 2026, the developer reached a term sheet with its lender to provide liquidity during the restructuring, according to Phoenix Business Journal reporting. As of that filing, the hotel itself was still working through the steps required to restart construction, with completion now tracking toward 2027 rather than this fall.
That gap between the announced menu and an open door is the whole story in miniature. You can read about the duck program. You cannot book a table.
What This Means If You Live Here
None of this changes how the town feels day to day. Camelback still casts the same shadow over Lincoln Drive it always has. What has changed is which reservations are actually bookable this month and which ones are still renderings waiting on a bankruptcy court's calendar.
If you are planning a fall evening out, Mountain Shadows has real, resident-priced availability through the end of September, and Kimpton Miralina's second kitchen is a real addition landing within the next several months. If a friend mentions the steakhouse or the new athletic club at "PV," you now know that is a Phoenix address, not a walk from your own driveway. And if someone tells you the Ritz-Carlton is opening this season, you have the paper trail to know that is not yet true.
Knowing the difference between a name and a jurisdiction is a small thing until it saves you a wasted trip or a reservation call to a restaurant that does not exist yet. It is also the kind of local detail that only comes from actually following the town, not skimming a press release.
Debbie Shields has spent 41 years watching Paradise Valley and the rest of Greater Phoenix change in exactly this uneven way, in clusters, with real news sitting right next to hopeful marketing. If you want someone who can tell you which is which, whether you are curious about the neighborhood or ready to talk about a move, Shields Regal Realty is a call away.
