Gill Properties is set to break ground on phase four of TraVure in Germantown this fall.

General contractor Grinder, Taber & Grinder filed a new construction permit with a value of about $7.8 million with the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development for the fourth phase of TraVure, a $120 million Class A retail and office space project on Poplar Avenue in Germantown. The fourth phase is set to include retail, offices, and a restaurant.

"When [Gill Properties] moved here about a year and a half ago, we said, 'There needs to be a place to walk, to eat.
I need a restaurant,'" Ray Gill, president of Gill Properties, told MBJ. "We've got the hotel, and we have so many financial companies here. So, we realized, let's do retail now and office above. It was kind of an epiphany when I realized that. I felt like we really needed to go ahead and do this pretty quick, because we needed the restaurant. But also, we are in the 'Blue River of Poplar.'"

Gill said the "Blue River of Poplar" reference is based on business professors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne's market strategy Blue Ocean and Red Ocean. The Blue Ocean strategy refers to tapping into unknown markets, while the Red Ocean strategy talks about the competition of known markets.

TraVure's latest permit detailed a two-story, 34,400-square-foot mixed-use building. The project includes about 17,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and about 17,600 square feet on the second floor for medical and office uses.

TraVure Phase 4 is set to break ground fall 2026.

Gill Properties

The site will also include a restaurant space on the south end, near the hotels. Gill said a white-tablecloth establishment would fit well in the area and serve the demographic of residents and workers in Germantown and East Memphis.

Gill expects to break ground on phase four in the fall and to complete construction by fall 2027.

The new building is set to rise in front of the Hilton Garden Inn and Home2 Suites by Hilton at the TraVure site. Leasing for the building has begun, and Gill said they have been in talks with ambulatory companies and "women-centric" businesses, including women-led companies, medical services like OBGYNs, and facial and cosmetic spas.

"We saw a need for more things that were women-centric," Gill said. "Where the women go, the kids go, where the kids go, the family goes. This walkable mix of uses here, with the hospitality, will attract ladies who want to either buy or have more personal service offerings."

Gill anticipates a financial institution going on the front of the property — adding to the major financing companies at the site.

The new building is adjacent to the 150,000-square-foot, five-story TraVure office building, which is 100% leased by businesses, including MAA, J.P. Morgan Chase, Insight Global, New York Life, First Bank, Silverleaf Capital, and Royal Bank of Canada.

"This corridor seems to attract entrepreneurs and good operators," Gill said. "It lends itself to ease of access — everything you need in the city is right here, in this quadrant."

The mixed-use building is also set to be surrounded by about 100 surface parking spaces, adding to the next-door parking garage of about 500 spaces.

Phase four of TraVure is the final phase of development for the Poplar Corridor project. The project has been in the works since about 2015.

"I feel great about TraVure," Gill said. "We're in for a period of better economic times."