Gill Properties is moving forward with the last phase of its TraVure development in Germantown.

The Memphis-based real estate firm filed a $7.7 million permit to start a two-story, 34,000-square-foot office and retail building at 6795 Poplar Ave.

Germantown’s Planning Commission approved the final phase of the mixed-use development last summer.

The company plans to start construction this fall and be finished next fall. Grinder, Taber & Grinder Inc. is the general contractor, and John Galbraith is the project’s architect.

The new building will have 17,000-square-foot floor plates with retail bays facing Poplar Avenue and TraVure Drive just east of Kirby Parkway.

Gill Properties started the overall development in 2017 and moved their offices into it in early 2025.

“We realized we didn’t have any place to eat lunch or dinner, so we set about right away designing a building,” said Ray Gill, president of Gill Properties.

Before they started work on the building, Gill Properties had to get Germantown to agree to let them put 107 parking spaces around it.

“They had pushed us up to the street, and we couldn’t lease it,” Gill said. “If I can’t park it, I can’t lease it. If I can’t lease it, I can’t build it.”

The company is talking with medical users for the second-floor office space. They are also talking with several restaurant operators.

“We need a really nice white-tablecloth restaurant, but not too expensive,” Gill said. “This one (developer) Billy Orgel did down the street (Josephine Estelle), his restaurant at Poplar and Kirby is just killing it. It takes two weeks to get in, so there seems to be a lot of demand for that type of restaurant and for a place to serve lunch.”

The 10-acre development has a five-story, 150,000-square-foot office building at 6815 Poplar Ave. that is fully leased with tenants that include MAA, JP Morgan Chase, Insight Global, New York Life, First Bank, Silverleaf Capital and Royal Bank of Canada.

The property also has a Hilton Garden Inn, a Home2 Suites and a 476-space parking garage.

Gill Properties is moving forward with the last phase of its TraVure development in Germantown. (Courtesy John Galbraith)

“We have excess parking, so we decided to put the restaurant on the south end because it was closer to the garage and you could have valet service or you could just walk,” Gill said.

This last phase was originally planned as a two-story building. They looked at doing a three-story building but decided on two stories.

Grinder, Taber & Grinder Inc. made a similar decision when they decided to expand their East Memphis headquarters recently.

Gill Properties also eventually added retail components and front door parking to the latest phase’s design.

This rendering shows plans for the final phase of the TraVure project in Germantown. (Courtesy John Galbraith)

Adding restaurants to the development’s hotel and office components could have additional benefits.

“When MAA has their board meetings or we have other financial people coming into town, they can stay in the hotel and go to restaurant,” Gill said.

In addition to this phase of TraVure, Gill Properties is moving forward with projects in East Memphis, including a $25 million project at the former Houston’s site and a $10 million development on South White Station Road.