Poplar Plaza proposal
Shopping center submits an application for mixed-use development with apartments.
The owner of Poplar Plaza, the shopping center at the busy intersection of Poplar Avenue and Highland Street, imagines a future with residential tenants as well as retail tenants.
The East Memphis shopping center is anchored by a Kroger grocery store and is also home to national retailers like Old Navy, Petco and Dollar Tree.
The plan to demolish a row of buildings and rebuild taller to become a mixed use development inside the plaza with apartments above and retail space on the lower floors was laid out in an application submitted to the Memphis and Shelby
County Land Use Control Board.
“That mix of uses would complement the existing, adjacent retail and restaurant uses and would provide additional, on-site customers for each of those commercial uses,” the application said.
The application was submitted because the proposed buildings would be about 78 feet tall and special approval is needed to build to that height at that intersection.
Missing from the plan were details like how many apartments would be included in the development, what the average price of the units would be, how quickly work might start or what would happen to Petco and Party City, the retail tenants that current occupy the space.
Rick Smith, with Finard Properties, could not be immediately reached for comment.
The Land Use Control Board will discuss the project at a meeting at 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 13. The meeting will be held via a conference call and will be broadcast live on the Memphis and Shelby County Office of Planning and Development’s Youtube page.
Members of the public seeking to speak on the project during the meeting should contact the Office of Planning and Development by 8 a.m. Aug. 7.
Desiree Stennett covers economic development and business at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at desiree.stennett@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2738 or on Twitter: @desi_stennett.