Every new place to eat or play in downtown Chandler this fall moved into a building with a past. A former movie theater at Arizona Avenue and Chandler Boulevard now holds a Mexican restaurant and a paddle club. A longtime Mexican restaurant building just south of Boston Street reopened this month under a New Mexico taco brand. The most visible corner downtown went dark in late August and is waiting for its own new tenant. Around all of it, the city's calendar for Dr. A.J. Chandler Park has stayed on schedule, with dated events through the end of the year.
To plan a night downtown between now and New Year's, you need to know which building holds what right now.
The old LOOK Cinemas building, now split in two
The former LOOK Cinemas building sits on the southwest corner of Arizona Avenue and Chandler Boulevard. It now has two tenants. The Daily Independent reported on August 21 that Lomas Cocina de Mexico had opened in the front, café side of the building. Padeland, a paddle and pickleball club, has the rest.
Lomas serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast covers chilaquiles, enchiladas and Sonora-style omelets. Later in the day, the menu runs from seafood and ribeyes to tacos on house-made tortillas and fresh carne asada. The full bar leans on mezcal and tequila cocktails, with beer on tap, aguas frescas and Mexican bottled sodas alongside.
The weekend hours make it a brunch option. Lomas opens at 8 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, staying open until 11 p.m. Saturday and 8 p.m. Sunday. On weekdays it runs from noon to 9 p.m.
The Chandler Independent covered Padeland's opening in a story posted August 23. With both tenants open, a building that used to be a once-a-week movie trip now draws breakfast, a game and dinner on the same corner.
The Serrano's building, under new ownership
A few blocks north, the building on the east side of Arizona Avenue just south of Boston Street was the home of Serrano's Mexican Food Restaurant. Mouth by Southwest reported that Tap N Taco opened there on Monday, October 12.
This is the brand's second location. Four partners, Joshua Martinez, Juan Estala, Joel Marquez and Javier Chavira, started it in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, in 2021. The local tie runs deeper than a lease. Mouth by Southwest reports that Martinez and his wife, Anna, live in Chandler, run a staffing company downtown called Safe T Professionals, and bought the 13,250-square-foot Serrano's property in 2024.
The menu is built around $2 street tacos: asada, al pastor, barbacoa, chicken, sausage, potato, and beer-battered shrimp or cod. Quesadillas with the same fillings cost $7. Loaded fries, nachos and baked potatoes are $8.50 each. At those prices, three tacos come to $6.
The restaurant only uses part of the building. The former banquet halls are slated to become shared offices for local entrepreneurs. Hours and the street address, 141 S. Arizona Ave., are on Tap N Taco's website. The City of Chandler's downtown developments page still lists the restaurant as "Coming Soon," but it is open.
| Building | What it was | What's there now | Status as of mid-October |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 W. Chandler Blvd., SW corner of Arizona Ave. and Chandler Blvd. | LOOK Cinemas | Lomas Cocina de Mexico and Padeland | Both open since August |
| 141 S. Arizona Ave., just south of Boston St. | Serrano's Mexican Food Restaurant | Tap N Taco, with shared offices planned in the old banquet halls | Restaurant open since Oct. 12 |
| SE corner of Arizona Ave. and Boston St., plus San Marcos Place | The Uncommon, Tipsy Egg, Recreo Cantina | Vacant | New concepts expected late 2026 or 2027 |
| 55 N. Arizona Place, The AJ | New space | Greenwood Brewing | "Coming soon" |
The corner still waiting for its next tenant
The two openings above came from new operators taking over familiar buildings. The southeast corner of Arizona Avenue and Boston Street is where that change hasn't happened yet.
The Uncommon held that corner as a lunch-and-dinner diner and bar, with its breakfast companion, Tipsy Egg, right next door to the south. Recreo Cantina sat on San Marcos Place. All three shared ownership and management. The Daily Independent reported that they closed permanently at the end of business on Saturday, August 29.
The story changed over a few days. On August 26, Mouth by Southwest described the shutdowns as temporary and expected the restaurants to reopen that weekend. Instead, the closures became permanent. A manager later told the blog that different concepts would move into all three spaces, and the Daily Independent reported the timeline as late 2026 or 2027.
So the corner that anchored downtown's bar scene is now the next building in line for the kind of turnover Lomas and Tap N Taco just went through. For now, a night out at Boston and Arizona goes to the spots around it.
The other pending opening is a new building, not an old one. In February, PHOENIX magazine reported that Greenwood Brewing, founded by Megan Greenwood, would open a second location at 55 N. Arizona Place in The AJ "later this year." As of mid-October, Greenwood's website still listed the Chandler taproom as "coming soon." No opening date has been announced, so don't put it on the calendar yet.
The park calendar stays on schedule
While tenants change along Arizona Avenue, the city's event schedule has stayed fixed. Every event below has a confirmed 2026 date. The city lists Halloween Spooktacular, Entre Dos Mundos, the tree lighting and Santa's House as free, and the Shanghai Ballet listing carries ticket prices.
Every Saturday: The Downtown Chandler Farmers Market runs 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Dr. A.J. Chandler Park West during its October-through-May season. Lomas opens at 8 a.m. on Saturdays and sits a short walk from the market, so breakfast before shopping works.
Oct. 23 and 25: The Chandler Center for the Arts hosts the Shanghai Ballet at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, October 23, on the Steena Murray Mainstage. Tickets run $38 to $78, with youth tickets at $19. The downtown events calendar lists an October 16 date, but the arts center's own listing says October 23. Sara Evans follows on October 25.
Oct. 30: Halloween Spooktacular runs 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday at the Dr. A.J. Chandler Park Stage Plaza, 178 E. Commonwealth Ave.
Nov. 1: Entre Dos Mundos: A Día de Muertos Celebration fills the Chandler Center for the Arts terrace at 250 N. Arizona Ave. from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. The arts center also lists its 27th Annual Mariachi and Folklórico Festival that day.
Nov. 19 and Dec. 17: The last two Downtown Chandler Third Thursdays of the year run 5 to 9 p.m. at Dr. A.J. Chandler Park. Tap N Taco is a short walk south of the park.
Nov. 27 through Dec. 31: The arts center's holiday run includes The Nutcracker from November 27 to December 6, Spirit of Christmas from December 12 to 20, David Archuleta on December 18, and Hooray for Hollywood on New Year's Eve.
Dec. 5: This is the biggest night on the downtown calendar. The Tumbleweed Tree Lighting runs 4:30 to 9 p.m. at 3 S. Arizona Ave. The Parade of Lights rolls from 6:45 to 8 p.m. Santa's House also opens that evening at Dr. A.J. Chandler Park from 4:30 to 9 p.m.
Dec. 12, 15 and 19: Santa's House returns from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on December 12 and 19, and from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, December 15. The Tuesday evening slot is the only weeknight Santa's House visit.
On December 5, the crowds downtown will be steps from the vacant Boston Street corner, a taco spot that opened in October, and a converted theater where Lomas serves until 11 p.m. on Saturdays. If the manager's late-2026 timeline holds, the corner could have a new tenant by next year's tree lighting.
A new tenant can change how a downtown building gets used, and how it's presented to the street matters just as much. That's the same thinking behind how Ceejay Cesiel stages and markets homes across Chandler. If you'd like to talk through how your own property would present in today's East Valley market, Schedule a Free Consultation.
