Apartment building near Jefferson Street gets preliminary approval

A four-story apartment building near Lexington’s popular Jefferson Street corridor received a key approval Thursday.

The Urban County Planning Commission voted to approve zone changes from light industrial and neighborhood business to high-rise apartment for parcels at 339, 341, 345 and 349 Blackburn Avenue.

The zoning changes will now to go the Urban County Council for final approval.

The building will be four stories and have 72 one- or two-bedroom apartments. Cowgill Partners, which is developing the property, plans to have 108 bedrooms in the complex and 108 parking spaces. The building will be about 49 feet tall and 77,000 square-feet, said Jacob Walbourn, an attorney who represents Cowgill.

The apartment will be near Transylvania University and Bluegrass Community and Technical College.

“There are no current plans to turn this into a Transy dorm or a BCTC dorm,” Walbourn said. “They will be market-rate apartments.”

Walbourn said Cowgill could have asked for a variance so it would not have to provide the 108 parking spaces but decided not to.

“We feel like we need the parking spaces for a development like this,” Walbourn said.

The multistory apartment building is not far from a proposed 16-story apartment complex — Thistle Station on Newtown Pike. Thistle Station has been approved but has not been built.

Planning staff recommended that the zone change be approved.

Several neighbors of the proposed apartment building said the additional traffic was too much for such a narrow road.

“It’s a two-lane road with one lane of traffic,” said Barbara Grossman, who lives on Blackburn. Grossman said Transylvania University athletic fields are across the street from the proposed development, which also dumps additional traffic in the area. In addition, athletes and fans park on a lot on that property.

Other neighbors said the apartment building would be twice the height of other buildings on the street.

This story was originally published December 15, 2016 at 5:06 PM with the headline "Apartment building near Jefferson Street gets preliminary approval."