Jefferson House is a new food hall, bar, and retail courtyard coming to the northwest corner of 83rd Avenue and Jefferson Street in downtown Peoria’s historic Old Town/Arts District. It is slated to open Fall 2026. The venue is already 100% leased and is now hiring and booking events.
Here is what your drive to downtown Peoria is about to look like
Right now, downtown Peoria’s 83rd Avenue corridor is a work in progress. That changes this fall. Jefferson House drops three local kitchens, six shops, a full bar, a splash pad, and a live-music stage onto a single block — all wrapped around a shaded open courtyard. The design is built for a full day’s visit, not a quick errand.
If you live in the West Valley and you have been driving to downtown Phoenix for that kind of destination, this is the project aimed at keeping you closer to home. The outdoor space is designed for all ages, meaning you can bring the kids without a second thought, then stay for live music once they wear out.
For neighbors, the upside goes beyond dinner options. A new walkable anchor in Old Town tends to pull foot traffic to nearby businesses and can support property values in the surrounding blocks. The city made this investment specifically to trigger that kind of ripple effect. The stakes are real, and the city put real money behind them.
What Jefferson House is: open-air food hall, retail and live entertainment in one courtyard
Jefferson House sits at the northwest corner of 83rd Avenue and Jefferson Street in Peoria’s historic Old Town/Arts District. Developer A.R. Mays delivered the ground-up building at 5,653 square feet — one story, all on a single floor.
The front approach to Jefferson House along 83rd Avenue, as shown in an architectural rendering. (Jefferson House)
Inside the perimeter are three restaurants, six retail spaces, and a bar. They ring an open-center courtyard. That courtyard is the social core: covered, lit, and built for people to linger. The outdoor space includes a splash pad, live music, and nightlife entertainment — all meant to fill a visitor’s entire day.
The open-center courtyard at Jefferson House, as shown in an architectural rendering, designed for dining, retail, and live entertainment. (Jefferson House)
The venue broke ground on September 18, 2025, with Peoria city leaders on hand. As of now, every space is leased and the project is on track for a Fall 2026 opening.
Who is behind it: The Churchill meets Driftwood Coffee in a West Valley partnership
Jefferson House is a four-person partnership. Kell Duncan and Stephen Allen — the team behind The Churchill in downtown Phoenix — joined forces with Lance Linderman and Gavin Linderman of Banquet LLC. Banquet LLC runs Driftwood Coffee Co. and Easy Tiger in Glendale.
The Churchill connection matters because that project proved the container-and-courtyard format works in Arizona. Duncan and Allen bring that playbook. The Lindermans bring West Valley market knowledge and an existing hospitality brand. Together, they pitched a concept that the Peoria City Council approved unanimously.
How Peoria made it happen: city council vote, city-owned land and the fifteen-million-dollar commitment
The Peoria City Council voted unanimously on April 2, 2024 to approve both Jefferson House and the neighboring Caldwell County Barbecue project. Both sit on city-owned properties that Peoria acquired as part of its downtown revitalization effort.
The city used previously allocated downtown Peoria funding — not a new budget appropriation — to partner with Jefferson House. Together, Jefferson House and Caldwell County Barbecue represent a $15 million investment from the City of Peoria, according to Economic Development Deputy Director Brian Carpenter.
The operators are not getting a handout. They hold an option to purchase the building and the land from the city once the lease period allows. The city retains ownership until that point. It is a lease-to-own structure that keeps the public stake in place while the project gets off the ground.
The building itself: one story, one courtyard and a design built for all-day visits
The original plan called for a two-story structure. The scope was scaled back to a single floor. That is the building A.R. Mays delivered: 5,653 square feet, ground-level, with three restaurant bays, six retail units, and a bar arranged around the central open courtyard.
Jefferson House as seen from 83rd Avenue in an architectural rendering, showing the peaked entry canopy and white metal-clad facade. (Jefferson House)
The single-story layout keeps the courtyard at the center of everything. Visitors can move from a restaurant to a retail space to the bar without losing sight of the outdoor area. The splash pad and live-music programming mean families and adult groups can share the same space at the same time without conflict.
Jefferson House and Caldwell County BBQ: the twin projects anchoring downtown’s revival
The September 18, 2025 groundbreaking for Jefferson House, with city leaders and a “Coming 2026” banner marking the event. (Jefferson House / City of Peoria)
Jefferson House does not stand alone. Directly next door, Caldwell County Barbecue is the second piece of the same downtown push. Caldwell County BBQ broke ground on April 1, 2025 and opened in Spring 2026. Together, the two projects account for the full $15 million city investment that Deputy Director Brian Carpenter cited.
The council approved both on the same April 2, 2024 vote. That was intentional. Peoria wanted a cluster, not a single point of activity. With Caldwell County BBQ already open and Jefferson House opening this fall, that cluster is taking shape on the same block.
The existing Old Town Peoria streetscape along 83rd Avenue, where Jefferson House and Caldwell County Barbecue are anchoring a broader downtown revival. (InsideTheValley.com)
Fall 2026 opening: what comes next before the doors open
Jefferson House is targeting Fall 2026. The building is complete, every tenant space is leased, and the project team is actively hiring and booking events. The groundbreaking happened September 18, 2025, so the construction window runs roughly a year.
If you want to get ahead of the opening, the official site at jeffersonhouseaz.com is already accepting event inquiries. No opening date beyond “Fall 2026” has been announced publicly. Watch for tenant announcements — the restaurant names and retail operators have not all been made public — and for a grand-opening event date from the Jefferson House team.
