Construction on the final phase of a Class-A, mixed-use office complex in Germantown is set to begin soon after a multi-million dollar permit was recently filed for the project.
Memphis-based general contractor Grinder, Taber & Grinder filed a new construction permit on Aug. 31 valued at $7.7 million with the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development for the fourth phase of the TraVure development in Germantown at 6813 Poplar Ave.
According to the construction permit, the plan is to build a two-story, 34,424-square-foot building from the group up. The retail and office building will have retail bays fronting Poplar and TraVure Drive at the traffic signal in Germantown just east of Kirby Parkway.
Construction could start in fall
Ray Gill, president of Gill Properties
and developer of TraVure, recently told The Commercial Appeal the plan is to break ground on the fourth phase of the 34,424 square-foot building on 2 acres in the fall.
The plan also includes 112 surface parking spaces, according to Gill. The timeframe for completing the fourth and final phase is expected in fall of 2027, Gill said.
He explained the project includes roughly 17,000 square feet on each floor, retail on the ground floor and medical and office uses above. Gill said TraVure has some financial firms that have shown interest in the space and would take up space on the second floor.
“I’m negotiating with a few tenants and the permit got pulled prematurely, but that’s OK, we’re where we need to be,” he said. “We’re talking to some medical users or ambulatory medical, a bank or two and a restaurant or two. So, I’m trying to put the puzzle together, so we can start this fall.”
Looking for women-owned businesses
Gill said he’s also focusing on having more women-centric businesses in the new building. That include medical services like OBGYNs, skincare and beauty-type tenants, which are similar to those in the White Oak Shopping Center in East Memphis developed by Gill Properties.
“We’re looking at women businesses, but also people that cater to women and cater to their needs and personal services such as cosmetics,” Gill said. “Things that maybe they want to buy in person or be personally served on site. We’re trying to replicate our White Oak project that have women centric businesses, and we’ve been successful over there.”
Having a restaurant a priority at TraVure
As for the restaurant component at TraVure, Gill wants what he described as being white tablecloth or fine dining. He said the restaurant space would be on the south end of the new building near the dual-branded 129-room Hilton Garden Inn and 91-room Home2 Suites by Hilton located at 6811 TraVure Drive and near the 500-parking garage.
“It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it does have to be really high quality, good food and great service,” Gill said. “We’ve talked to different ones looking at Memphis because we’re out selling Memphis all the time. For TraVure, we even talked to a guy from Spain about an Iberian restaurant. We hope to make a deal with some type of restaurant in the next couple weeks.”
Currently, TraVure has a five-story, 150,000-square-foot building at 6815 Poplar Ave., that was built concurrently with the 500-parking garage and completed in 2017. That building — which is 100% leased — is home to several financial firms and money manager tenants including Mid-America Apartment, JPMorgan Chase, Insight Global, New York Life, First Bank, Silverleaf Capital, In Royal Bank of Canada and others.
Gill said having a restaurant to accommodate the tenants there is something that became a focal point.
“We’ve got these major corporations and great tenant list and they need a place to have lunch and dinner,” he said. “When I moved my office to TraVure, I realized how much we needed a restaurant because every day, we have food trucks. People also bringing their food from places like Chick-fil-A or have to go out to lunch. I should have gotten a restaurant there five years ago.”
What the final phase of TraVure will mean for Germantown and the surrounding area
TraVure is part of a larger vision for upscale development at the entrance to the city from the west along Poplar, known as the Western Gateway Small Area Plan. The city's planners and aldermen approved the overall outline plan for TraVure in July 2015.
TraVure is located near The Standard Germantown, formerly the Carrefour at Kirby Woods. The developers behind The Standard are CRE Devco Germantown, an investment group led by Billy Orgel, president of Tower Ventures. Notable Memphis chefs Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman opened in May two new restaurants at the site in Germantown: Josephine Estelle and Rosie’s Tavern.
“If you look at how well the restaurant is doing on where the property Billy Orgel owns (The Standard), there’s like a two-week waiting list to get in there. I mean it’s just amazing the business they doing,” Gill said. “When you combine that demand in this quadrant, there seemed to be a need for additional restaurants.
TraVure is also located near notable Germantown shopping center — The Shops of Saddle Creek. Gill believes Germantown is in need of more retail options.
“The other thing is that there has been no new retail in Germantown,” Gill said. “Saddle Creek is great, but I think Germantown is under retail based on the demographics. I think this is a needed addition. A mixed-use project that would appeal to not only financial firms, but to retailers.”
Corey Davis is the Collierville and Germantown reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Corey.Davis@commercialappeal.com or 901-293-1610.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: $7.7M permit pulled for final phase of TraVure project in Germantown
