The Van Buren

The Van Buren is a 1,800-capacity concert hall in downtown Phoenix, housed in the former Phoenix Motor Company building. Its defining feature is the scale of that former showroom: a broad, high-ceilinged room shaped by original roof trusses and brickwork, with an arched stage view framed by a desert mural. The result is a large general-admission room with the bones of a 1930 automobile dealership still visible around the crowd.

A showroom gets its second act

The building opened in 1930 as the Phoenix Motor Company, a Spanish Revival/Baroque Revival dealership designed by local firm Lescher & Mahoney. Dud R. Day, a racing promoter and dealer, later operated the site; the building eventually spent years covered in stucco and boarded up. Partners Pat Cantelme and Jim Kuykendall bought it in 2015, then brought Crescent Ballroom and Valley Bar owner Charlie Levy into the conversion. Restoration uncovered the original storefront, doors and windows, aided by a $250,000 preservation grant.

The Van Buren opened on August 23, 2017, with Cold War Kids and Joywave on the inaugural bill after a Phoenix Afrobeat Orchestra soft opening. In 2018, the restored Phoenix Motor Company building joined the National Register of Historic Places, connecting a new concert room to one of the surviving pre-World War II dealerships in Phoenix’s automobile history.

The room today

The Van Buren books a deliberately broad touring mix: rock, rap, country, world music and local acts all fit the program, alongside pop, electronic, metal, folk, R&B and hip-hop bills. For showgoers, the practical draw is a flexible standing-room showroom with a mezzanine for elevated views, three bars and a spacious patio. Expect an industrial interior whose wood rafters and original brick keep the room visually distinct even at a full-capacity show.