REVITALIZED STREETSCAPE: Two residents of the Soulsville neighborhood ride bicycles past the new $11.5 million Towne Center development, which is across McLemore Avenue from the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.  – PHOTO BY TOM WILEMON

Although the biggest vibrations in Soulsville come from heavy equipment right now, that will soon change when grocery shoppers will be able to prance through the aisles and pick out produce to the beat of old-school classics.

A music-themed grocery store is among the first tenants slated for the $11.5 million Towne Center at Soulsville, which is almost complete. The new buildings across McLemore Avenue from the Stax Museum of American Soul Music give a vibrant new look to the streetscape.

The first businesses should open within the first quarter of next year, said Jeffrey T. Higgs, executive director of the LeMoyne-Owen College Community Development Corp., which is the project developer. About 30 percent of the space is still available. He said he hopes to have the space filled by the middle of the second quarter of next year.

“We don’t have it all filled,” Higgs said. “This economy is very precarious right now. We are looking for retailers who would like to be in an emerging market. I think that’s important. You have to understand the market you’re in … a market that has tourists, a market that has about 1,000 students every day, a market that spends a lot of money outside of this community. We know the spending power is here.”

Tenants who have already signed leases include Williams Apple Market, the Memphis Health Center and Salon de Soul. Gourmet Hospitality Services of Atlanta also has committed to opening a restaurant in the lifestyle center.

“They have a commitment for a full-service restaurant and then a food court with about four different food vendors,” Higgs said.

Michael Williams, the owner of Williams Apple Market at the intersection of Tullahoma Street and Winchester Avenue, will be opening a second grocery in Towne Center.

“It will be a musically themed grocery store,” Higgs said. “It will be fresh fruits and vegetables. I don’t want to say a Whole Foods type, but I think people will be pleasantly surprised with what we’re bringing to the neighborhood.”

Most of the available first-floor space is suited toward retailers, while second-floor space can accommodate offices.

“We want retail services that people in the neighborhood need,” Higgs said. “We’ve had some conversations with a national cell phone carrier. We wanted to leave some of the space available for local people who wanted to be in some class A-1 retail and office space. We’ve gotten a lot of inquiries from folks. We had an attorney who came by yesterday who was interested in part of our incubator space.”

The development includes an incubator that can accommodate up to five offices.

“Because we’re using the New Markets Tax Credit, we’ve already been able to reduce the rents quite a bit,” Higgs said. “I don’t want to discuss the rent in the newspaper, but we’ve already been able to reduce the rent from what you pay in some other class A-1 space located somewhere else. The New Markets Tax Credits allowed us to do some of that way.”

Christian Davis, who works as project manager overseeing construction, is sold on the space. Once his construction job ends, he said he hope to put a dry cleaning business at Towne Center. Davis owns Café Cleaners Downtown and would like to open a second shop in the Soulsville development.

“I just like the old-town feel of the structures,” Davis said. “It’s more homey. It’s very urban. You have parking in the back. You have wide sidewalks. People are able to walk to different stores.”