2-4-1 Thursdays. Bottomless mimosas to top off weekend brunches. Bouncers bending your ID a little too much. For better or for worse, these factors comprised Devil's Advocate Sports Grill, a local establishment off University and Rural.
For 15 years, this humble sports bar (colloquially dubbed "Dev's") gradually grew into a staple in Tempe nightlife and an institution for the Sun Devil community.
But no longer.
It's been a little less than two months since Devil's Advocate closed down after the owner, Jarred Stetser, a 2004 ASU alumnus, sold the lease back to the property owners.
The announcement, posted via Instagram, was received with overall shock and sadness by members of the ASU community.
"Devil's was its own experience … that was just the ASU culture and the mindset in its rawest form," said Brie Anderson, a 2024 ASU alumna. "We're all just really sad."
The independent watering hole was nothing short of unique, characterized by a particular je ne sais quoi only truly understood by its patrons.
The bar and adjacent area are intended to be demolished to make room for a luxury high-rise apartment complex, managed by Aspirant Development, a Scottsdale-based division of Empire Group. Top brass in Aspirant have gone on to say they do not intend to market the complex toward ASU students, according to AZCentral.
Although Tempe is anything but short on bars, the rhetoric surrounding Aspirant's high-rise leads many to find themselves wondering how the culture around ASU is beginning to change — and if student life is being left in the dust.
READ MORE: Luxurious apartment towers to replace Devil's Advocate Sports Grill
Havana Perez, a senior studying business tourism, expressed worry about the precedent the emphasis on luxury pricing is setting for Tempe.
"Hopefully these apartments have some better prices for students. But I doubt that," Perez said. "It's what makes them the most money, but they have to think about the people that are filling these apartments."
Student overflow is not a foreign issue to ASU. To some, luxury developments feel tone-deaf in the larger context of Tempe's affordable housing crisis.
The luxury development doesn't just seem to be coming at the wrong time for Tempe — the space itself feels off. Anderson was surprised the high-rise had no plans to market to students.
"I assumed it was student housing, just because most of that area is," Anderson said. "That is disappointing in and of itself."
Both Anderson and Perez lived in apartments in close proximity to Devil's, and each cited the walkability aspect as another part of the bar's appeal. However, with yet another easily accessible "third space" biting the dust, the urbanization coming to Tempe isn't coming off as student-friendly.
But to others, the increase in housing is simply a natural response to the evolution that Tempe has been undergoing since the '60s.
Paul Lewis, an associate professor at the School of Politics and Global Studies, found the housing issue to be a byproduct of decades of expansionist practices in the region.
"Greater Phoenix has sprawled into Tempe and well beyond," Lewis said. "In some ways, the old what-might-have-been-a college town got kind of swamped by the general suburban sprawl of the Phoenix metro area."
Lewis said housing demand, which goes hand-in-hand with rapid growth, is high all around Tempe, whether that's student-specific or not.
"Any expansion of housing supply in our current context is good news," Lewis said.
Tempe residents understand the demand for housing. Nevertheless, the scrutiny regarding Aspirant's high-rise may be a microcosm for a greater criticism toward the manner in which developers are consolidating property across the city — housing and otherwise.
There's a fine line between prioritizing growth (or as a certain college president says, "innovation") and Tempe becoming too corporate, and in the process, losing that charm only present in a college town.
READ MORE: Satire: ASU files application to trademark the word 'innovation'
Devil's embodied what it meant to be a college bar — prioritizing personality over profit.
"Some of the frats and sororities would host little car washes in the parking lot," Perez said. "That's something sweet that they would let us do."
By contrast, it appears unlikely that a luxury property not meant for students would do the same.
Anderson notes how changes made across campus, notably the homogeneity in the all-too-iconic Mill Avenue, reflect a substantial shift in the campus's energy, and money could go to a few select groups who control the nightlife in Tempe.
READ MORE: Opinion: Nightlife around ASU is changing for the worse
Tempe is constant in its change. And that can be both a good and bad thing. Businesses come and go — it's the nature of the American beast.
"There's not much ability to put the genie back in the bottle," Lewis said.
It's entirely possible (if not probable) for another bar to sprout up and become "Dev's 2.0." But in that admirable pursuit for something better, it's crucial to remember ASU's roots and what made it such a special place for the Sun Devils of past and present.
"(Devil's) was community, in a word," Anderson said.
Community is what gave ASU so much light to so many. Longtime sports grills like Devil's, ASU football's push to the College Football Playoff, and every institution that bolstered student life lent an unmatched air of community to Tempe.
As Dev's shuts its doors and Tempe continues its journey toward rebirth, it is imperative for ASU's population to play devil's advocate and push for Tempe to choose community over corporatism.
Editor's note: The opinions presented in this column are the author's and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
Edited by Andrew Dirst, Sophia Braccio and Katrina Michalak.
Reach the reporter at stroeste@asu.edu and follow @samtroester on X.
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Sam is a sophomore studying political science with a minor in business. This is his first semester with The State Press.
