Student-run burger restaurant in Lexington closes. Owner blames UK for killing business
A student-operated burger restaurant on the University of Kentucky campus has abruptly shut down.
L8NITE Fast Food announced on social media Feb. 18 the Lexington restaurant inside the UK Cornerstone building at 401 S. Limestone is closed.
“Thank you,” the post said. “We have been honored to serve thousands of UK Students and locals in the past year and a half. This chapter comes to an end. Onto new beginnings.”
Owner and UK senior Mohamed Weheba on Wednesday said a lack of cooperation from the university on signage, shootings and parking killed his business.
The restaurant had permits to put lighted signs in a corner of the university-owned Cornerstone, which also features a multistory LED billboard for UK.
But Weheba also added separate, more visible exterior signs, including one he could roll out at night and back in during the day, to show DoorDash pickup drivers and customers how to find his restaurant inside the building.
In September, UK ordered Weheba to remove those signs or face eviction for violating school standards. Weheba argued removing the signs would keep people from seeing his restaurant.
After newspaper and TV stories, UK agreed to meet and discuss signage options with Weheba.
But, the UK student said via text Wednesday, the university denied all proposals he submitted “and shut me out of the process entirely. ... Signage went nowhere, pretty much, and the signs I had bought are sitting in the garage collecting dust. So once the bar foot traffic I was relying on died down because of the weather, it was all downhill from there.”
UK spokesman Jay Blanton disputed his account, saying that Weheda had just signed a five-year lease for the space.
“Interestingly, the person in question continuously pushed for a new five-year lease for the restaurant. He was granted it — it was just signed — and now he has quickly and suddenly indicated that he is planning to close,” Blanton said via email.
Weheba also said UK stopped letting people park for free in the nearby parking garage on weekends and game days, killing off foot traffic.
“They completely ignored the email I sent them in November pleading with them that this action would jeopardize my business. People used to stop by L8NITE and grab food either on the way to or back from games,” he said.
Another problem: Shootings nearby, he said, which led to UK students patronizing bars farther from South Limestone.
“During one of the shootings, I had students run into L8NITE and cry to my employees telling them to lock the doors so the shooters don’t come in. And in another instance, bullets from (a) Cane’s shooting hit the same building L8NITE’s in,” Weheba said. He blamed UK for not properly securing the area for students and potential customers.
“UK will continue to have its nice big empty building. I think I am the fourth restaurant in the past four years that they ran out of business now in the Cornerstone,” he said.
The ambitious public-private university project opened in 2020 with an e-sports theater and local food hall, including beer and pizza, connected to a new parking garage. But few restaurants have stayed long.
Blanton said that UK has taken steps to improve both safety and signage.
“As for the issues he cites, we’ve seen no drop-off in traffic recently at the rest of the facility. And the safety measures we’ve undertaken in the nearby areas, we believe, have been successful,” Blanton said. “Further, we have appreciated his input into how we could promote the area in and around the facility to improve promotions. We’ve learned from that and have used some of his suggestions — including additional digital signage in and around the building and in promotion of his business specifically. I think the better question is why did you ask for a multi-year extension, sign it, and then change your mind suddenly?”
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 12:28 PM.
