For nearly five years, the tower at Central Avenue and Camelback Road stood as one of Phoenix’s most puzzling real estate stories. Commuters admired its angles and shimmering glass. But for all its promise, One Camelback remained frozen, an office-to-apartment conversion turned cautionary tale.
The building was roughly 80% complete, and 100% stuck. Contractors left. Lawsuits circulated. It fell into default after a perfect storm of cost escalation, rising interest rates and pandemic-era disruptions. Acore Capital, the lender, ultimately took ownership through foreclosure. Inside the tower, high-end finishes gathered dust while demand for multifamily in Uptown Phoenix only grew.
TK Stratton, founder and CEO of Phoenix-based Kinella Capital, LLC, has built a career in the shadows of disaster: thousands of homes and buildings restored after fire, water and structural failures, plus complex insurance disputes most investors avoid. “He’s the guy you call when everybody else walks away,” says Dale Phillips, whose firm provides development strategy and lease-up guidance.
Kinella acquired One Camelback directly from Acore Capital and partnered with Post Road Group, which is providing debt financing to relaunch the project. Stratton and his team approached the tower not as opportunists but as specialists.
“We saw a beautiful building in a remarkable location,” Stratton says. “The problem was never the architecture. The problem was capital markets. Rising interest rates made it uneconomical for the last developer to finish. But the bones were exceptional. The vision was intact.”
What distinguishes Kinella is not simply interest, but capability. The firm holds both KB-1 general contracting and A-1 engineering licenses, allowing it to build, engineer and operate internally rather than outsource risk.
“A stalled high-rise terrifies lenders,” Phillips says. “Every unknown is a financial landmine. Kinella’s integrated model removes most of that uncertainty.”
Upon taking ownership, Stratton’s team began a systematic, floor-by-floor forensic review of mechanical systems, electrical tie-ins, structural connections and fire-life-safety alignment. Scope creep was eliminated. Design questions were finalized, many of them unresolved for years. “In this kind of situation, you can’t subcontract your way out of trouble,” Stratton says. “You need designers, builders, engineers and capital decision-makers in the same room, aligned to the same goal.”
When completed, One Camelback will deliver 163 residences with sweeping views of the Phoenix skyline, floor-to-ceiling window walls, refined finishes, wellness amenities, technology-forward conveniences and a rooftop pool suspended above the Uptown corridor.
Features include a 150-foot atrium, a vertical canyon of light rarely glimpsed by the public; floor-to-ceiling windows with views of Uptown, Midtown, Camelback Mountain and beyond; a signature 1,800-square-foot, three-bedroom residence on Level 11; modern fitness and wellness spaces; walkable access to restaurants, retail and light rail.
“People think they know this building,” Phillips says. “But almost nobody has seen the inside. The eleventh-floor units offer some of the most striking views in Phoenix.”
Once defined by mid-century offices and modest retail, Uptown Phoenix has emerged as one of the city’s most important residential corridors. The stalled One Camelback tower created a highly visible void.
Its completion will add premium housing to a submarket with consistent demand and limited inventory. It also demonstrates that office-to-residential conversions, often discussed and rarely executed, can succeed when managed by a team able to control complexity.
“This project is the definition of value being created, not reimagined,” Stratton says. “Our role is simple: bring discipline, bring clarity, finish what should have been finished long ago.”
Stratton, who has restored thousands of homes that others wrote off, says One Camelback carries particular significance. “It matters to Phoenix. It matters to our team,” he says.
Photos courtesy of Kinella Capital, LLC
