DeSoto Central Market on Roosevelt Row has closed

Dominic Armato | The Republic | azcentral.com

One of downtown Phoenix’s most ambitious culinary and cultural projects has permanently closed its doors.

DeSoto Central Market, the adaptive reuse project that brought a combination of food counters, libations and market items to a community gathering space on Roosevelt Row, has announced that it is shut down for business.

In a written statement, Shawn Connelly, managing partner of DeSoto, said that as Monday, Aug. 20, "the DeSoto Central Market concept will no longer be in operation. We sincerely appreciate all of our employees over the years, who worked incredibly hard to make DeSoto what it was. We are also very thankful to the community and our customers for your support. The building will remain and new plans are in the works for the space," which is what a sign in the window of DeSoto also states.

Launched in 2015 at 915 N. Central Ave., DeSoto moved into the C.P. Stephens DeSoto Six Motorcars building after a redesign and renovation of the 90-year-old historical edifice. The food hall opened with a collection of dining counters — most operated by Stephen Jones — and has been host to community events and festivals over the ensuing years.

Jones parted ways with DeSoto in July of 2017 to launch a full-service version of his food counter, The Larder + The Delta, which opened in August. Connelly turned most of the spaces vacated by Jones over to Jeremy Armstrong.

Christian Buze, the grandson of Elizabeth White, recently joined DeSoto with The Root and Soul, a contemporary soul food counter that opened in April.

"I knew nothing. I'm as completely stupefied as everybody else," Buze said. "I got there in the morning and the doors were locked, and somebody told me to check my messages. I was blindsided, to say the least."

He hopes to find a new home and be cooking shortly.

"I kind of took the day to process everything and I'm going to get on things tomorrow looking for a new location and hopefully settle in the Roosevelt area," Buze says. "I'm optimistic a new door will open."

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