What happens to a downtown building after the business that filled it is gone? In downtown Chandler this fall, two of the largest are being divided, and each piece keeps its own hours.
The former LOOK Cinemas building now holds a padel and pickleball club, a Sonoran restaurant, a coffee bar and a coworking area. The old Serrano's holds a taco shop, and its banquet halls are set to become shared offices. A bar known for cocktails now opens at 8 a.m. to pour coffee. Put together, these changes mean the stretch of Arizona Avenue between Chandler Boulevard and Boston Street is busy much earlier in the day than it was a year ago.
The theater that became a club with a kitchen up front
LOOK Cinemas closed its theaters, bar and cafe in February 2025, right after that year's Chandler International Film Festival ended. By late August 2026, the building at 1 W. Chandler Blvd., on the southwest corner of Arizona Avenue and Chandler Boulevard, had two new tenants instead of one.
Padeland takes up most of the old theater. According to the Chandler Independent, the club has indoor courts, a weights and strength area, a wellness area, a coffee bar, an outdoor terrace and a coworking area. You don't need a membership to play. Padeland lists drop-in rates of $85 an hour for padel and $40 an hour for pickleball, and $19 for the wellness center. The price gap reflects two different games. Pickleball is the familiar one, and padel is the newer draw. Members get earlier booking windows, so drop-in players may find the popular evening slots already taken. The coworking page says work-between-matches seating with coffee and a terrace is planned, and its full details are still to come.
Lomas Cocina de México sits in the front of the building, where the theater's lobby and bar used to be. Its own page describes Sonoran-inspired cooking, a raw bar, and mezcal, tequila and bacanora cocktails in a room modeled on 1980s Mexican social clubs, with brunch on weekends. The Daily Independent listed chilaquiles, enchiladas and Sonora-style omelets for breakfast. Lunch and dinner run from seafood and ribeyes to tacos on house-made tortillas and carne asada. One standout is the Tostada la Cura, tuna with ponzu.
Published hours don't match from source to source. In August, the Independent reported noon to 9 p.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays. The Padeland site lists its own building hours as 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday. If you're planning a weekday breakfast, call ahead or check the OpenTable listing.
Serrano's old home, split between tacos and offices
Across Arizona Avenue and a block south, a similar story played out in a building that's even bigger for a single restaurant. Serrano's announced it would close its downtown restaurant on June 1, 2024. 12News reported slower business as downtown competition grew, along with operating costs that were too high for the 13,000-square-foot site.
Size was the problem, and the new plan solves it by dividing the space. Mouth by Southwest reported that the 13,250-square-foot property sold to local owners in 2024. Tap N Taco now runs the restaurant side, and the former banquet halls are slated to become shared offices for local entrepreneurs.
Tap N Taco opened on Monday, Oct. 12, at 141 S. Arizona Ave., No. 2, between Chandler City Hall and Boston Street. It's the brand's second location and its first in Arizona. Four partners, Joshua Martinez, Juan Estala, Joel Marquez and Javier Chavira, started it in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, in 2021. Here's what the menu looks like, according to Mouth by Southwest:
| Item | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Street tacos | $2 | Asada, al pastor, barbacoa, chicken, sausage, potato, beer-battered shrimp or cod |
| Quesadillas | $7 | Same fillings as the tacos |
| Loaded fries, nachos or baked potato | $8.50 each | Same fillings |
| Birria tacos with consommé | $9.99 | Mondays and Tuesdays only |
Churros, aguas frescas and a full bar round out the menu. Weekend closing times differ by outlet. Mouth by Southwest listed midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and the Chandler Independent listed 11 p.m. Either way, it's the latest-closing option in this group.
Coffee where the cocktails are
The third change involves no new building at all, only new hours. The Go Local Arizona business news page reported that SanTan Brewing + Distilling's Spirit House in downtown Chandler now serves PRESS Coffee, specialty coffee, Red Bull Refreshers and snacks along with its cocktails. Food comes from SanTan Brewpub. The coffee service had its grand opening on Oct. 13, and the Spirit House now opens daily at 8 a.m.
Put the hours from all three places side by side and a full day downtown takes shape, based on the hours each source published:
- 8 a.m. SanTan Spirit House starts pouring coffee, and Padeland's doors open.
- 8 a.m. on weekends Lomas serves breakfast, according to the Independent's listing.
- 11 a.m. Tap N Taco opens every day of the week.
- Noon on weekdays Lomas opens for lunch.
- Late night Padeland runs until 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and Tap N Taco serves until 11 p.m. or midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, depending on the source.
A movie theater and a large banquet restaurant used to set downtown's rhythm, and both depended on evenings and special occasions. The tenants who replaced them spread their business across the whole day.
The corner that's still waiting
Not every big space downtown has a new tenant yet. Three restaurants under the same ownership, The Uncommon, Tipsy Egg and Recreo Cantina, closed for good at the end of business on Saturday, Aug. 29. The Uncommon held the prominent southeast corner of Arizona Avenue and Boston Street, and Tipsy Egg was its breakfast companion right next door to the south.
In Mouth by Southwest's update, Chris Purcell, who manages several concepts for developer Niels Kreipke, said the closures clear space for new concepts. He added that more projects are planned for downtown Chandler in late 2026 and early 2027, with details to come.
A couple of blocks north, at The AJ, 55 N. Arizona Place, Greenwood Brewing announced a taproom in February with craft beer, wine, light bites and picnic baskets. Phoenix New Times reported a fall 2026 target at the time. Greenwood's website still lists the Chandler location as opening soon.
What's on the downtown calendar through December
The new tenants have their first holiday season ahead, and the city and the Downtown Chandler Community Partnership have filled the calendar around them:
- Diwali: Festival of Lights, Saturday, Nov. 7, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Chandler City Hall Courtyard, 175 S. Arizona Ave. The city organizes it, and the ISKCON Center provides food. City Hall is right next to Tap N Taco.
- Chandler Pride, Saturday, Nov. 14, starting at 4 p.m. at QuartHaus, 201 S. Washington St., listed on the city's events calendar.
- Third Thursday, Nov. 19, 5 to 9 p.m. at 3 S. Arizona Ave. This month's free Downtown Chandler event marks Women's Entrepreneurship Day with a Girls' Night Out market featuring local artists, makers and women-owned businesses.
- Tumbleweed Tree Lighting, Saturday, Dec. 5, 4:30 to 9 p.m. in downtown Chandler. The Parade of Lights runs downtown the same evening from 6:45 to 8 p.m.
- Third Thursday Holiday Market, Dec. 17, 5 to 9 p.m. at Dr. A.J. Chandler Park.
On Dec. 5, the tree lighting and parade will bring the year's biggest downtown crowd past the old theater, the old Serrano's and the empty corner at Boston Street. If you've only been to downtown in the evenings, a Saturday-morning coffee at the Spirit House followed by an hour of drop-in pickleball is a good way to see the change firsthand.
Watching a building find its next use is one of my favorite parts of following this market. An old theater lobby now seats diners, and Serrano's banquet halls are on their way to holding desks. If you'd like to talk about what a space you own or are considering could become, or you just want to compare notes on downtown Chandler, Liv AZ Real Estate Group is happy to help. You can learn more about the area on our Chandler neighborhood page, and when you're ready, let's connect.
