The restaurateurs behind long-standing Italian restaurant Amerigo are bringing a new concept to a high-profile project.

Char, a steakhouse restaurant, is headed for a July opening in Highland Row.

Partner Ben Brock said he was shopping Memphis for his other concepts: Mexican restaurant Sombra, oyster bar Saltine and steak-and-fish restaurant Char. The Highland Row location, with its access to varied demographics and an up-and-coming location, was the best fit for Char’s second location.

“The area has a great, new energy,” Brock said. “It’s a good in-between area of Downtown and East Memphis which is in my mind, a little underdeveloped.”

The first Char restaurant opened in Jackson, Miss., in 2001. Brock said the interior of the Memphis location will be more modern and fit to accommodate everyone from students and professors to the older crowd.

“Not as country club-ish,” he said.

Fare will be the same with fish entrees, like pecan-encrusted blackfish and pan-seared scallops, costing up to $30 and steak entrees, like Cowboy ribeye and New York Strip cuts coming in around $50.

The Jackson location also does lunch, brunch and catering.

Coming in at 7,000 square feet, the new Char location is smaller than Amerigo’s but Brock hopes it can accommodate the same number of people. Amerigo first opened in the Park Place Center off Ridgeway Road in 1997.

Memphis-based Poag & McEwan Lifestyle Centers and Indiana-based Milhaus Development are behind the $61 million Highland Row project at the corner of Highland Street and Midland Ave. Two restaurants, a coffee shop, signature retail and a specialty grocery store are planned for the 27,000 square feet of retail space.

Also planned are 354 apartment homes and 35 townhomes, expected to be ready soon.

Char will be on the lower level of the commercial segment with wide street-facing windows. Residential will be stacked on top of the building.

According to Poag & McEwan, the Shops at Highland Row will be a destination of choice in one of the highest income trade-area corridors in the Memphis MSA.

“The focus is starting to pick up in that area,” Brock added.

Brock and his partners operate four Amerigo restaurants across Tennessee and Mississippi and are soon to open a fifth in Flowood, near Jackson. French-American Anjour Restaurant and fine dining Etch are also part of the portfolio.

Construction is set to begin in March. Arlington, Tenn.-based Ledford Engineering is overseeing architecture, interior design and engineering.