McCormick Ranch's New Restaurants Are Showing Up on Hayden Road First

This fall, the biggest headlines in McCormick Ranch went to the old office building on the lake. On Hayden Road, one new restaurant opened and another got closer to opening, both with much less attention. Vecina opened in September at Mercado on Hayden. Dash is expected in November at Mountain View Plaza. The Lakefront at Scottsdale is aiming to open its first restaurants around November 1, 2027. That means the corridor most residents already drive every day is where this year's new places to eat are coming first.

The median down the middle of that corridor is changing during the same months. Some of its oldest trees are dying, and the association's Board was scheduled to consider what will replace them on October 28.

Vecina moved into the old Z'Tejas spot

Phoenix New Times reported that Vecina opened its second location in mid-September near Hayden Road and Via de Ventura, in the space Z'Tejas used to have. The address is 8300 Hayden Road, D-101, in the center the McCormick Ranch Property Owners' Association lists as Mercado on Hayden.

Vecina built its following in Arcadia, where James and Raenee Fox opened the original restaurant in 2019 with a Latin American-inspired menu. The McCormick Ranch dining room is about three times the size of the Phoenix original. "It's a really good extension of what we do in Arcadia," Raenee Fox told New Times.

So a restaurant that people used to drive across town to visit now has its largest location at the south end of the Ranch's Hayden corridor.

Dash is expected in November at Mountain View Plaza

At the north end, chef Matt Carter is getting ready to open Dash at 9619 N. Hayden Road, Suite 101. The MRPOA business directory calls the center at Hayden and Mountain View Road Mountain View Plaza. Phoenix New Times reported a November opening, and PhoenixBites lists it as "Expected November 2026." No specific opening day has been announced.

PhoenixBites describes Dash as an all-day restaurant, coffee shop and neighborhood market. The planned menu runs from coffee, pastries and breakfast to chopped sandwiches, Roman-style pizza, charcoal chicken, soft serve, house-made sodas, beer and wine. One place covering a morning coffee, a lunch sandwich and a take-home dinner is a different kind of business from the sit-down restaurants that have long defined Hayden. A café and market can become part of a weekday routine, not just a night out.

One space on the corridor is waiting for a tenant

Not every storefront on Hayden has a new tenant lined up. Campo Italian Bistro & Bar served its last dinner on Friday, July 31, at 8260 N. Hayden Road in the Village on Hayden. Phoenix New Times reported that the space would be available to a new tenant.

Here's how the three spaces stand as the holidays approach:

The median between them is being replanted, and 12 pines changed the plan

While the businesses along Hayden turn over, the street itself is in the middle of its largest planned change in years. According to the MRPOA's 2026 capital improvement page, the approved plan covers about 1.25 miles of Hayden Road, from Indian Bend Road to Via de Ventura Road. The association received its permit in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The plan adds 144 new trees, from mulga, willow acacia, smoothie cascalote, fruitless olive, blue palo verde, red push pistache and Joan Lionetti live oak. It also calls for 359 shrubs, 280 accent plants and 703 groundcover plants. Some turf is coming out, but most of it is staying. By the association's figures, 247,975 square feet of turf remains, about 82% of what is in the project area now. MRPOA says the project is part of a tree succession plan. The idea is to have younger trees already growing before older ones reach the end of their lives, so the street keeps its shade.

The older trees declined faster than planned. The original plan removed two Aleppo pines from the medians between Via de Ventura and Indian Bend, and that work is finished. On October 13, the association announced that 12 more mature Aleppo pines in that stretch had declined significantly. Staff increased irrigation to try to save them.

The association's notice says an arborist found yellowing and browning foliage, resin around holes in the bark, and woodpecker damage. Those signs can be associated with bark beetles. The arborist's report also lists several other stressors:

• prolonged heat and drought
• limited soil and water storage in the median
• reflected heat
• physical damage
• recent trenching that may have affected tree roots

The notice says the decline is best explained by these conditions adding up, not by any single confirmed cause. The association also pointed homeowners with worried-looking trees to a qualified arborist and to University of Arizona Cooperative Extension guidance on watering.

The review ran through the last two weeks of October. A committee was scheduled to vote on a recommendation on October 22, and the Board was scheduled to consider it on October 28. As of the October 13 notice, no replacement species had been picked, and MRPOA said it would share more once the review was complete. The pines that framed the drive past Mercado on Hayden and the Village on Hayden for decades are being replaced while the restaurants in those centers change too.

The Lakefront's turn comes about a year later

The project that got the headlines is a few blocks away on McCormick Parkway. Diversified Partners is putting $70 million into The Lakefront at Scottsdale, a redevelopment of more than 100,000 square feet at 7501 E. McCormick Parkway. The site is the former Forever Corporate Plaza, which the developer bought for $25.5 million in late May, according to KTAR, reporting with the Phoenix Business Journal. The first phase turns 60,000 square feet of office space into restaurants, retail and a 10,000-square-foot corporate office for Diversified Partners.

La La Land Kind Cafe, V Modern Italian, SUSHISAMBA and Frost Gelato have signed leases, and another concept will be announced later. Three of the restaurants are planned with patios of 3,000 to 4,000 square feet.

ABC15 reported that the building has anchored McCormick Ranch since 1978. Walt Brown Jr., CEO of Diversified Partners, told the station it had been "this crown jewel that no one had access to because it was a corporate office."

Coffee and dinner on the lake are still a year off. The groundbreaking on September 24 ended with partial demolition of the 1970s interior. The developer hopes to open the first restaurants by November 1, 2027, and told ABC15 he is working with residents and the homeowners' association on a final design. For this holiday season, the Lakefront is a construction site.

The calendar until the new places open

For now, McCormick Ranch's big seasonal events are at McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park:

1. Through October 31: Spook-Track-Ula runs from 6 to 9:30 p.m. The park is billing a haunted train-car walkthrough and a kid-friendly storybook train ride as new this year.
2. From October 27: Tickets for Holiday Lights 2026 are scheduled to go on sale October 27 at 8 a.m. through ActiveNet. They cost $15 per person ages 3 and older, children 2 and younger get in free, and members get $5 off. The ticket includes train and carousel rides, and the park says the event sells out every year.
3. November 27 through December 30: Holiday Lights runs nightly from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., except December 24 and 25. Extras include S'more Land with $8 kits, food from Hartley's General Store and food trucks, the Model Railroad Building, and Santa, with meet-and-greet times still to be announced.

The park's event details still list a 2025 date range under the 2026 heading, so it's worth checking the dates on the ticket page before you buy.

If you live near Hayden, the new restaurants on your corridor, the median replanting and the wait for the Lakefront may all play into what your home is worth today. Avenue 43:19 follows what's changing in McCormick Ranch and can show you how that fits into your home's value. Get Your Free Home Valuation.