Why two attorneys bought this former sports bar near Camelback Corridor

By Angela Gonzales – Senior Reporter, Phoenix Business Journal

Two Phoenix zoning attorneys paid $2.3 million for this building at 2111 E. Highland St., Phoenix. Withey Morris Baugh PLC

The two partners at Withey Morris Baugh PLC have found a new home for the law firm after shelling out $2.3 million for the former Half Moon Windy City Sports Grill near Phoenix’s Camelback Corridor.

Jason Morris, founding partner, and Adam Baugh, partner, bought the 8,000-square-foot vacant building from Tucson-based Holualoa Cos., according to Tempe-based Vizzda LLC real estate database.

The building at 2113 E. Highland Ave. sits on 1.63 acres of land, included in the purchase that closed Oct. 18, Morris said. The deal was negotiated off-market.

The law firm’s current lease at 2525 E. Arizona Biltmore Circle nearby is set to expire by the end of next year, Morris said.

The Highland Avenue property is on Holualoa’s 13-acre Waterview campus that includes 210,000 square feet of office space and a 2.5-acre lake with its own island, said Stan Shafer, COO of Holualoa, which bought the property for $50.1 million in December 2021.

Originally, the sports bar was going to be razed to pave the way for apartments, as part of the Waterview project, Shafer said.

That project was put on hold when the capital markets and leasing markets made it more difficult to develop multifamily, he said.

It just so happens that Holualoa’s zoning attorney for that project was Withey Morris Baugh, he said.

“We put that on hold and we kicked up a discussion with Jason and Adam, and they said, ‘We’d like to buy it,'” Shafer said.

Withey Morris Baugh eyes late 2025 move to new home

Morris said he and Baugh have been interested in buying that property for a few years.

“Knowing Stan and Holualoa and having them as our clients, it’s like buying a house next to your friends,” Morris said. “You know who your neighbors are going to be. It makes it that much more exciting.”

“We believe the demo and build-out will take roughly 10 months,” Morris said. “Our hope is that this time next year we’ll be operating out of our new office.”

With 15 to 20 in-house employees, plans call for developing an indoor/outdoor kitchen space and a podcast studio in their new office, Morris said.

“We host quite a few events, usually fundraisers, for our candidates,” he said. “It’s nice to bee able to do that out of the comfort of our own office.”

An 87-space garage underneath the building will be shared with tenants.

The garage has two access points, but a third might be created to have direct access into the law firm’s new space.

Hayes McNeil’s Plus Minus Studio has been selected as the design/build contractor for the renovations.

“We’re likely going to be putting as much money into creating this vision as we did in buying the property,” he said.

Plans call for paying tribute to the former sports bar by keeping a part of the bar within the common area of the building.

“If you don’t like our legal advice, hopefully you’ll like our refreshments,” Morris said.

Holualoa spends millions on Waterview upgrades

Meanwhile, Holualoa already has invested around $7 million for upgrades to its Waterview campus.

The site was a former nine-hole golf course that included a lake, Shafer said.

“We’ve completed a bunch of improvements around the lake,” he said. “It’s more user friendly.”

Walkways across the lake lead to sitting areas on the island, while a pier is being built around the lake’s perimeter, Shafer added.

231130 WATERVIEW Boardwalk
A rendering of a boardwalk being planned around the 2.5-acre lake at Waterview, as designed by Phoenix architect Worksbureau.

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