21 May 2nd-May 8th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Future Food Hall Owners of The Churchill, Driftwood Coffee bringing a new restaurant collection to Peoria. BY LAUREN TOPOR A new food hall and commu- nity space concept is coming to the northwest corner of 83rd Avenue and Jefferson Street in down- town Peoria. Jefferson House, a moniker borrowed from the street it will soon sit along, is a collaboration between Kell Duncan and Stephen Allen of The Churchill in down- town Phoenix and Lance and Gavin Linderman of Banquet LLC, the hospitality brand behind downtown Peoria’s popular coffee shop, Driftwood Coffee Co. and the Glendale bar, Easy Tiger. “I’m excited to partner with Lance and Gavin because of all the stuff they’ve done with Driftwood,” says Churchill owner, Kell Duncan. The project is moving forward, and moving fast, thanks to a recent retail and restaurant development push spearheaded by Peoria Mayor Jason Beck and the Peoria City Council. The property where Jefferson House will reside is city-owned and was initially acquired by the city as a key part of its downtown Peoria revitaliza- tion vision. “Downtown Peoria is in a growth phase,” says Allen, director of operations at The Churchill. Duncan, Allen and the Linderman’s began planning for Jefferson House just a few months ago. “We got together and started to concep- tualize how to bring this vision to fruition,” says Allen. What to expect at Jefferson House The blueprints for Jefferson House mirror those of its downtown Phoenix counterpart, The Churchill, named for the Evans Churchill neighborhood where it resides. The new concept will feature similar core characteristics such as a curated lineup of local restaurants and indepen- dently-owned small businesses. There will also be a roomy courtyard primed for community-centered activations like live music performances, events and artisan popups akin to The Churchill’s Sidewalk Saturday markets. Also like The Churchill, Jefferson House will be constructed from repur- posed shipping containers, a detail Allen considers “a good effort for adaptive reuse.” Fittingly so, too. The area’s history is rooted in the railway. The Peoria train depot on 83rd Avenue was erected along a spur line of the Sante Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway Co. in 1895 — a year before Peoria was founded. The depot connected Phoenix to Prescott and enabled local farmers and ranchers to move crops and cattle as far as Atchison, Kansas. It was decommissioned in 1972. Today, it sits at McCormick- Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale. So building the new community space out of shipping containers is “kind of a nice coincidental homage to the city’s history,” Allen says. Search for tenants underway One way Jefferson House will differ from The Churchill is in size. Overall, the new concept will be much bigger. Its footprint is about a third larger than The Churchill’s 14,000-square foot space, which currently houses 10 local businesses; The Brill Line, Infruition, So Far So Good, Loco Style Grindz, Freak Brothers, Scookie Bar, Stoop Kid, Neighbor Market, State Forty Eight and Cayla Gray. A larger footprint means “there will definitely be more tenants,” according to Duncan. And the search for those busi- nesses is underway. The new tenants just have to be able to fit inside of a shipping container. Duncan encourages interested business owners to reach out online. “I love downtown Phoenix and The Churchill, it’s really a space to create opportunities for small local businesses,” Duncan says. “I’m hoping this will have that effect.” In addition to a deeper roster of restau- rants and retailers, Duncan says he’d like to bring a mix of coworking and office spaces to Jefferson House. Original plans to incor- porate bi-level office and coworking spaces at The Churchill fizzled out due to construction and budget constraints. Duncan hopes this potential addition will be a bright spot at Jefferson House. So is a Jefferson House housewarming party on the horizon? For now, the project is moving on the city’s expedited timeline. “I have never had a process like this before, usually I’m going to the city and trying to get permits,” Duncan says. “They’re not taking their time.” When asked about an opening date, Duncan replied, “ASAP.” Jefferson House 8308 W. Jefferson Street, Peoria At The Churchill, local vendors set up tables outside for Sidewalk Saturday, a weekend artisan market. Plans are in the works for similar events at Jefferson House. (Photo by Lauren Topor/Good Karma Photo) ▼ Food & Drink