Within days of Memphis City Council approval of the Central Station development contract, Henry Turley Co. and general contractor Montgomery Martin Contractors LLC have filed a $14.2 million building permit application for a new apartment complex at 608 S. Front St.

The site is a field south and west of two separate parking areas at the train station.

(Downtown Memphis Commission Design Review Board)

The Memphis City Council approved the contract Tuesday, Dec. 1, between the private developers, Henry Turley Co. and Community Capital, and the Memphis Area Transit Authority for the $55 million Central Station undertaking. The project includes turning the station into a hotel, constructing new apartments and a six-screen Malco movie theater, and expanding the marketplace area.

Last month, Montgomery Martin Contractors filed a $1.5 million permit for footing and foundation for the vacant land at 608 S. Front.

The specific apartment plans call for about 200 units across nine three-story buildings. Six 24-unit buildings and one 12-unit building will go up on the vacant land between Front Street and the Central Station platform. The central entry plaza to the apartments will include a pool, fitness center and leasing office.

Later phases of the Central Station project call for a three-story, 18-unit building at Carolina Avenue and South Main Street, along with a 24-unit building with the same industrial design on the elevated railroad platform above South Main.

Developers said last month they were ready to begin construction as soon as possible on both the apartments and movie theater, and hoped to begin work on each before winter weather might slow construction.