A demolition permit worth $120,000 has been filed for Metro Shopping Plaza, the 56-year-old retail center at 410 E.H. Crump Blvd. in South Memphis, raising the possibility that the aging site could soon be cleared to make way for apartment buildings near Downtown. Ibex Construction LLC is listed as the filer on the permit, which covers tearing down the shopping center.
The filing was first reported by The Daily Memphian, which noted that the shopping center opened in 1970 and that a demolition permit has now been filed for the property. The newspaper's report frames the move as a potential step toward residential redevelopment near Downtown, though it does not establish that demolition or new construction has been approved or will actually occur.
A Retail Center Born From a 1970 Ribbon-Cutting
Metro Shopping Plaza has a long history in South Memphis. According to The Commercial Appeal, Memphis Mayor Henry Loeb cut a red vinyl ribbon on Dec. 15, 1970, to officially open the plaza on E.H. Crump Boulevard. The center was built by Black and white investors, with Loeb's help, and was meant to spur economic growth in the Black community, the outlet reported.
By the time of that 2020 report, the center's fortunes had faded considerably. The Commercial Appeal described it then as a “ragged eyesore” with few remaining shops, a stark contrast to its origins as a symbol of community investment five decades earlier.
Years of Redevelopment Talk Without a Final Outcome
The push to remake Metro Shopping Plaza isn't new. The 2020 Commercial Appeal report detailed a proposal from developer J.W. Gibson, who was seeking approval for a tax-increment financing district spanning large portions of Downtown and South Memphis that would include the plaza, along with plans to bring a grocery store to the site. Gibson estimated at the time that redeveloping the plaza would cost $36 million, a steep climb from its original $1.3 million price tag.
That plan appears to have given way to a different chapter. A 2023 Commercial Appeal report said the plaza sold to Fasil Kebede for $3.6 million, with a $45 million development planned following the purchase. Neither the scope nor the fate of that $45 million plan is addressed in the newly filed demolition permit, and the available reporting does not clarify whether that redevelopment proposal remains active.
What Remains Unknown
Plenty about the plaza's next chapter is still unsettled. The filing of a demolition permit does not by itself confirm that the permit has been approved, issued, or acted upon, and no details have emerged about who might develop apartments on the site, how many units might be built, or on what timeline. For a corridor that has already seen one redevelopment vision replace another over the past six years, the demolition filing is, for now, the latest data point rather than a finished story.
