By Andy Ashby, Daily Memphian
Updated: August 05, 2026 4:58 PM CT | Published: August 05, 2026 1:03 PM CT

A local group is moving forward with plans for a $25 million mixed-use development in East Memphis, refining the project and giving it a working title: 5000 Poplar.

Local investors Darrell Horn and Brown Gill announced the project in February and plan to open it in early 2028.

General contractor Grinder, Taber & Grinder Inc. filed a $22 million construction permit this week for multiple buildings at Poplar Avenue and South Mendenhall Road. The permit covers a mixed-use building, a retail building and a restaurant building.

Crews are demolishing the 61,000-square-foot First Horizon building at 4990 Poplar Ave. to make way for a three-story, 50,000-square-foot building with 30,000 square feet of office space and 20,000 square feet of retail space. The property has a 57-space underground garage and 123 surface parking spots. It also will have 14 bicycle parking spaces.

The developers are also building a 6,300-square-foot, 170-seat restaurant called The Tradition on the former Houston’s restaurant site.

The new plans also call for a 1,000-square-foot “jewel box” on the north side of the property between the two main buildings, Gill said. This building could be used for a single user, such as a dessert shop or a small jeweler.

Gill and Emily Vanasek of Gill Properties have been talking with potential tenants, but the company was not ready to reveal any names.

“We’ve been lucky to find some great users that want to be in the project,” Gill said.

Victor Buchholz and Jason Weeks of LRK are the architects designing the project. The civil engineers are Taylor Webb and Morgan Falls of Rockfield Engineering. Mark Levy is doing the landscape design.

Grinder, Taber & Grinder also filed a $296,000 construction permit for a 1,974-square-foot temporary trailer.