A company affiliated with Robert F. Fogelman II is moving forward with plans to build a new retail center on a key piece of land in the heart of East Memphis.

A 29,000-square-foot retail center is planned for the site of the former Cozymel's Mexican Grill on Poplar Avenue near the International Paper headquarters. The restaurant was razed in 2013.

(Daily News file) 

Crown Centre LLC has applied for a $3.2 million building permit to build the “shell” of a 29,000-square-foot, single-story retail building on the site of the old Cozymel’s Mexican Grill site at 6544 Poplar Ave., near International Paper’s campus in East Memphis.

Linkous Construction Co. Inc. is listed as the general contractor on the project.

The old Cozymel’s restaurant was razed in 2013. A 2012 plan approved by the Land Use Control Board indicated Fogelman, who is listed as manager of Crown Centre LLC, was seeking to develop a three-story mixed-use building with retail on the ground floor and office space on the upper floors, but the project is now firmly retail-oriented. The site is just east of International Paper’s expanding headquarters at Poplar and International Drive.

The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2014 appraisal for the property is $1.9 million. In December, Crown Centre LLC filed a $6.1 million loan on the property with Financial Federal Bank.