This article originally appeared in the Phoenix Business Journal.
For Jason Morris, founding partner at Withey Morris Baugh PLC, purchasing the firm’s new headquarters at 2111 E. Highland St. — the former home of the Half Moon Windy City Sports Grill — was a strategic decision made easier by the pull of nostalgia.
After all, he’s had some foundational memories at the former sports bar. Morris recalls bringing his sons to the Half Moon after baseball practice, to catch a big game or simply for a boy’s night out.
“I had been a patron of the place and knew what a great location it was, what a convenient location it was, and how prominent the building was,” Morris told the Business Journal. “So making that offer was part nostalgic, but also part practical real estate.”
The law firm bought the 8,000-square-foot vacant building in late 2024 for $2.3 million, with the idea of renovating the space into its next office. Withey Morris Baugh is one of the more active land use firms in the Valley, as its attorneys have represented data center developers, mixed-use projects and electric vehicle makers.
The firm’s new building sits on a corner lot at Holualoa’s 13-acre Waterview campus in central Phoenix. Once set to be razed for apartments, plans changed when the capital markets made it more difficult to develop multifamily projects, according to previous Phoenix Business Journal reporting. As Holualoa’s zoning firm, Withey Morris Baugh stepped in with a plan to buy the building for themselves.
“Not only was it a great local investment, I think it is a great neighbor for the office building behind it,” Morris said. “If you think about that being sort of the front door to Waterview, I believe we’ve added some significant value being their new front door and neighbor.”
Withey Morris Baugh has invested roughly $2 million into renovations since purchasing the former sports bar. While it wasn’t a rebuild — the law firm’s principals liked the “funkiness” of the original structure — significant investments were made “from the roof to the HVAC system,” Morris said.
They also invested into nice-to-have amenities such as a speakeasy lounge and a putting green.
“My partners were really creative and came up with some great ideas along the way,” Morris said.
The funky new space hasn’t immediately yielded a rush of new clients, but it has brought the firm some leads.
“It’s brought us closer to some consultants that we’ve worked with in the past or that we now will be working with in the future,” Morris said. “Both some legislative lobbyists, as well as building contracting companies that are within Waterview. So it’s all folks who are in our arena, and now it’s much more convenient to collaborate with them and share clients.”
While the new office isn’t substantially larger than their previous office in the Biltmore area, Morris noted that the design is “much more efficient than our previous space.” It also has some space currently being used for entertainment and educational space that could eventually be turned into more offices.
Now that they’re settled in, Withey Morris Baugh is on the hunt for a new land use planner, Morris said.
“The downside is, I’m sure the sports bar Half Moon served better wings than we do, but we dispense way better advice,” he added.