Garden Communities Plans Edyn, a 504-Unit Second Phase at Desert Ridge in North Phoenix

North Phoenix is getting its next big apartment community. AZBEX reported on September 24 that Garden Communities is moving forward with a second residential complex on the roughly 41 acres it owns just north of Desert Ridge Marketplace. The new project, called Garden at Desert Ridge Edyn, is planned for 504 units at 5150 E. Deer Valley Drive.

Edyn follows Elysium, the developer’s 378-unit first phase, which is under construction at the northeast corner of Tatum Boulevard and Deer Valley Drive. According to AZBEX’s DATABEX project database, at-risk grading began and building permits were issued for Elysium in 2024. ORB Architecture designed both communities, and Garden Communities is acting as its own general contractor as well as owner.

The land story goes back to late 2022, when Garden Communities bought 40.87 acres at the site from the Arizona State Land Department at auction for $44.1 million. Colliers brokers Dillon Hopley and Jim Keeley represented the buyer. Plans filed with the city that December described an 882-unit development split by a natural wash into two parcels: 504 units on the east side and 378 on the west. The east parcel, now Edyn, was proposed with 12 studios, 216 one-bedroom, 206 two-bedroom, and 70 three-bedroom apartments. The property carries R-4 multifamily zoning under the Desert Ridge Specific Plan, with building heights allowed up to 38 feet in one area and 48 feet in another, and the site runs roughly half a mile along Deer Valley Drive.

Taken together, Elysium and Edyn add up to one of the larger rental developments in the Desert Ridge area, and they arrive as the Loop 101 corridor in north Phoenix continues to fill in with new housing, retail, and employment.

Why it matters to JFN

A two-phase, 882-unit community built by a developer that also serves as its own general contractor is exactly the kind of program where a plumbing and mechanical partner earns its keep on repetition and reliability. Phase one sets the standards: wet wall layouts, water heater and HVAC closet details, riser locations, and the domestic water and drainage approach that phase two can carry forward almost unchanged. When a builder controls both phases, the lessons from Elysium flow straight into Edyn, and a trade partner who can hold quality and schedule across several hundred units becomes part of the plan rather than a line item. We also like what this says about north Phoenix. Developers are still committing large sites to rental housing, and every unit of that pipeline needs water in, water out, and comfortable air in every home. We congratulate the Garden Communities and ORB Architecture teams on keeping Desert Ridge moving.

Sources: AZBEX, September 24, 2026; AZBEX, January 24, 2023; Scottsdale REALTORS, February 16, 2023; AZBEX, November 7, 2022