by Peter Corbett – Apr. 29, 2010 02:24 PM
The Arizona Republic

A Scottsdale shopping district that has been treading water while the recession swamped retailers’ expansion plans is moving ahead, with new tenants coming next month and this fall.

Scottsdale Quarter, an open-air lifestyle center, will add Primebar, a restaurant and martini bar, on May 17 on its southern edge.

Other retailers expected to join the Quarter this fall include Nike, Armani A/X, Lululemon Athletica, a yoga clothing shop, and a champagne bar called Narcisse.

Scottsdale Quarter is a $250 million project that had a limited opening in March 2009. It is southeast of Scottsdale Road and Greenway-Hayden Loop, and current tenants are Williams-Sonoma Home, West Elm, Brio Tuscan Grill, Apple, H&M and Oakville Grocery.

“With each new opening, we get an influx of shoppers,” said Jenny Bassett, marketing director.

Scottsdale Quarter and other Northeast Valley mixed-use centers such as CityNorth hit the market as the economy spiraled into a recession.

CityNorth at Loop 101 and 56th Street opened its first phase of stores, restaurants, apartments and offices in November 2008. It is in foreclosure on a $290 million debt with a trustee sale set for this summer.

Glimcher Realty Trust, one of the Scottsdale Quarter’s development partners, remains solvent and is moving ahead with leasing the 28-acre property.

On a conference call last week, Michael Glimcher, company chairman, said Scottsdale Quarter has leased 80 percent of the space in the first two development phases.

Phase 2 construction will be completed over the next few months with a wave of shops and restaurants opening in the fall, Bassett said.

Scottsdale Quarter’s office tenants include Cities West Publishing, Superior Home Services, Eddie V’s restaurants and Girlfriend University, a business mentoring enterprise.

The digital marketing firm iCrossing will move in next month and occupy the entire fourth-floor space above H&M, a fashion retailer, Bassett said.

Scottsdale Quarter’s newest player is the 8,300-square-foot Primebar, which wraps around the south parking garage with a streetside patio and a main bar set against an elevated stage.

“We’re taking the best of Mastro’s, Sapporo and Blue Martini and blended it all together in one atmosphere,” said John Polizzi, Primebar’s managing partner.

The bar and its music are targeting 30-year-olds to Baby Boomers.

Happy hour from 4 to 7 p.m. will feature 30 wines by the glass for $5 each, specialty martinis for $6 and 20 craft beers at $4 each.

Appetizers and a full dinner menu will be served until 10 p.m., Polizzi said.

Scottsdale Quarter will add other restaurants in the fall, including True Food Kitchen, from Fox Restaurant Concepts, in the Quarter’s central square, or quad, and Eddie V’s on the street side of the north parking garage.

Narcisse will serve champagne in a second-level bar next to the Gold Class Cinema. The upscale movie theater is slated to open next year.

Nike has started construction of its two-level store east of Apple. Nike will be trying a new concept at Scottsdale Quarter that will be unveiled at two other locations this year, Bassett said.

Scottsdale Quarter’s plan calls for 370,000 square feet for retailers and restaurants, along with more than 200,000 square feet of office space.

A third phase could include a hotel and residential component on the eastern edge of the property. The timing of that development will be market-driven, said Richard Hunt, Scottsdale Quarter’s general manager.