A Jackson Ward parking lot soon could soon be home to a five-story, $27 million building featuring 167 apartments.

Richmond area developer Eric Phipps reportedly is proposing to create the new project on a 1-acre parcel on East Marshall Street. The site is on the north side of Marshall between Adams and 1st streets.

Mr. Phipps was not immediately available for comment.

According to the online Richmond BizSense, Mr. Phipps plans to include restaurant and retail space on the streetfront as part of the development, following the model of previous residential developments.

The proposed project, which is now undergoing review in the city Planning Department, could be underway by August if all goes well in the approval process.

It’s the latest sign that City Hall’s long-running efforts to bring new growth to the historic hub of the African-American community is starting to bear fruit. The Jackson Ward section of Richmond went through a long depression after Interstate 95 carved up the community in the late 1950s.

For more than 15 years, two African-American developers, Ron Stallings and Kelvin Hanson, have dominated efforts to revive the area, often with support from the city.

Mr. Stallings has transformed two former African-American insurance buildings into apartments. He also has renovated the Hippodrome Theater and developed new apartments and a restaurant on that property.

With his partners, he also has built new apartments and homes north of Jackson Street in a redevelopment area the city created in the early 1990s as an effort to jump-start change.

Mr. Hanson, who has renovated numerous houses into rental units, is now undertaking his biggest development, the 31-unit Eggleston Plaza at Leigh and 2nd streets. The popular Croaker’s Spot restaurant, which was born across the street and is now located in South Side, is in line to occupy the first floor with a new outlet.

Now others like Mr. Phipps are seeing opportunity in an area that most developers once ignored.

In recent years, developers have turned several historic buildings, including the former A.D. Price Funeral Home on Leigh Street, into apartments.

The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority is working with a Washington-based nonprofit, Community Preservation and Development Corp., that is proposing a 194-unit complex in the block bounded by Jackson, Duval, 1st and 2nd streets.

Others appear to be banking land in Jackson Ward for future projects.

For example, Douglas Development of Washington, which recently redeveloped the former Central National Bank at 3rd and Broad streets into apartments and owns a chunk of other Downtown property, continues to amass properties in the block bounded by Broad, Marshall, 1st and 2nd streets, according to city records.

Separately, a Philadelphia development firm, Parkway Corp., spent $2 million to buy a large parking lot at 200 E. Marshall St., city records show, and there are expectations that the company is making plans for its own mixed-use development.