en.Wedoany.com Reported - RAY, a New York-based real estate company, has launched a 401-unit apartment complex in downtown Phoenix, its largest development to date. Founded by former fashion designer, magazine publisher, and Garage Museum founder Dasha Zhukova, RAY focuses on blending urban living with art-centric work-live spaces. "RAY was born from a simple belief: culture and design should be part of everyday life—real estate can build not just buildings, but experiences and communities," Zhukova said before the ribbon-cutting.
The project broke ground in 2024 and was completed quickly. It was developed against the backdrop of rapid population growth in downtown Phoenix—the area had only about 8,000 residents a decade ago, a figure that has more than tripled since, spurring the opening of over 100 businesses in the area in the past year alone. The expansion of the local healthcare and technology sectors has brought a potential tenant base to the project. The project includes 4,500 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, pop-up exhibition event space curated by RAY, and studios equipped with brush-washing stations and art storage, aiming to activate a city block currently surrounded by large parking lots.
"A significant part of investing here is the opportunity to build where the architecture truly connects with the environment," said Nick Benjamin, founder of VELA, the project's co-development firm, on the reasons for the investment. "Here—both physically and conceptually—there is more space for the landscape to become an extension of the building." This investment attracted Los Angeles-based architecture firm Johnston Marklee & Associates (JMA), marking JMA's first multi-unit residential building. "It's a contemporary design rooted in modernist principles, but we see it more as a hybrid," said JMA co-founder Sharon Johnston, describing the design concept. "The greenery connects to the landscape, while the geometric forms are very rational. This tension makes it hard to categorize simply."
Designed in collaboration with Lamar Johnson Collaborative, the facade features a grid system barely perceptible across 26 stories, structurally combining a five-story parking garage base with the residential tower above. The green treatment of the facade is intended to echo the desert environment, providing shade through its massing to mitigate heat. The interior, completed by RAY's in-house design team in collaboration with Parts and Labor Design, continues the mid-20th century West Coast modernism style. The common spaces, which make up the entire fifth floor, extend the green exterior inward and integrate with native drought-tolerant plants from the Sonoran Desert.
With half of the residential units under 500 square feet, the shared spaces are designed to encourage more use by residents. The main space, "The Living Room," avoids common amenities like pool tables, instead creating a quiet atmosphere with unpacked art books and seating areas. "Instead of game rooms and high-energy spaces, we opted for something quieter, more like a shared living room or salon," said JMA Managing Director Nicholas Hofstede. Outdoors, there are gardens, a swimming pool, and a pavilion. A mural in the lobby by Los Angeles artist Alex Israel, created with the help of a Hollywood scenic painter, features life-sized desert rocks and plants, creating a cinematic sense of tranquility.
One-bedroom studios (386 square feet) in the project start at $1,470, with two-bedroom penthouses reaching up to $7,219. As the surrounding neighborhood continues to develop, the project may become the first in the RAY series to cultivate an art culture at a slow pace.
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