Warehouse District Restaurant to Open This Weekend
The dual-concept venue brings lunch and late-night dining options to the historic Gerardo's Building in Phoenix.
Updated on Oct. 23, 2026 in Openings & Closings
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Otra Pizzeria and Better Days will soft-open in Phoenix this weekend at the Gerardo's Building. The restaurant and bar combo will hold official openings on Wednesday, October 28, and Friday, October 30, respectively, in the city's Warehouse District.
Why it matters
The venture signals continued commercial activity in the historic Warehouse District, with the operators utilizing a two-floor model to capture both lunch and late-night demand. The business demonstrates a common scaling path by transitioning from a three-year pop-up operation into a permanent, multi-concept space.
Chef Cesar Velasco expands to the Gerardo's Building after 3 years of operating pizza pop-ups. The site at Third and Buchanan streets serves as a permanent home for the dual-concept operation.
The players
Cesar Velasco
The chef who leads the kitchen team and brings three years of experience from local pizza pop-ups.
Kell Duncan
An operator in the Phoenix Warehouse District who manages the upstairs bar alongside The Churchill team.
The Churchill team
A group of operators partnering to manage the upstairs bar at the Gerardo's Building.
The details
The business leverages the Gerardo's Building by splitting services across two levels, with counter-service lunch and full-service dinner on the first floor alongside a wood-fired pizza oven. The upstairs bar, managed by Kell Duncan and The Churchill team, features distinct aesthetic elements like red booths and checkerboard flooring. Late-night operations specifically target the 10 p.m. to midnight window with Roman-style square slices.
Timeline
Soft opening of both businesses occurs the weekend of October 24, 2026.
Otra Pizzeria officially opens on Wednesday, October 28, 2026.
Better Days officially opens on Friday, October 30, 2026.
Market Landscape
The project follows the established pattern of historic brick adaptive reuse projects characteristic of the ongoing redevelopment of the Phoenix Warehouse District. It highlights the trend of transitioning pop-up food concepts into permanent anchor tenants within district-specific hospitality clusters.
Operators in the district should watch the traffic flow generated by the two-floor model, which combines counter-service lunch with specialized late-night offerings. The integration of seasonal local ingredients provides a baseline for monitoring how rising input costs impact menu pricing in this sector.
The takeaway
This dual-concept launch highlights the viability of leveraging a single real estate asset for both daytime and late-night revenue streams. Owners should monitor the success of the 10 p.m. to midnight service window as a strategy to maximize asset utilization in high-traffic urban areas.
Further reading
For more on new local business launches, visit the Phoenix Openings & Closings section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Phoenix New Times.
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