Sam Fox, the creator of widely-celebrated restaurants such as North, The Henry, Culinary Dropout, True Foods Kitchen and many more, is now working on his new project, a luxury hotel in Phoenix. This new venture for Fox is called the Global Ambassador. Fox felt the progression to the hospitality field was his next calling after selling Fox Restaurant Concepts to Cheesecake Factory in 2019. The luxury hotel will be on the northwest corner of 44th St and Camelback, next to the newly finished Phoenix Suns training facility.
This is a well-known area to Fox, as this is the neighborhood where he resides with his family as well as the location of his restaurant concepts corporate office, on the southeast side of Camelback and 44th St. He said he considered opportunities to build his first luxury hotel concept in other places across the country but wanted the first hotel venture under his new company in is own backyard he is very familiar with. “It’s a place that I needed to see. Be a part of every single day, curate and develop. Having that out of town would have been a little more difficult than being able to do that in town,” said Fox.
The Global Ambassador will be a 141 room luxury property with architecture, design and cuisine inspiration from all around the world. Nelson Partners Architects will be designing and partnering up with Brian Frakes of Common Bond Development Group to bring Fox’s concept to life. It’s exterior will mimic the architecture of Paris and built around the view of Camelback Mountain, with the largest open rooftop in the state. The interior will incorporate globally inspired decor by Judi Testani of Testani Design Trope, who has been a major role in the design of Fox’s restaurants.
The Global Ambassador will also have a world class gym and spa while not forgetting about his culinary art. The luxury hotel will host 5 different restaurants with cuisines from around the world. The roof will be the location of a Mediterranean restaurant inspired by Italy, Greece and Morocco. The rooftop on the Global Ambassador is designed to be a destination hot spot for locals and tourists alike.
Fox said, “the hotel will be a dream eight years in the making when it opens in 2023. It just has a big international vibe to it.”
