7-story, 800-bed private student apartment complex proposed near UK’s campus
A St. Louis-based real estate company wants to build a seven-story private student apartment complex across from the University of Kentucky’s campus.
The plans call for 241 apartment units with 799 beds, and a top floor that features a rooftop deck and a pool.
But the developers would need to tear down multiple buildings, and some are concerned the development will wipe out Pralltown, a traditionally Black neighborhood that has had roots in the area since the late 1860s.
“They are talking our neighborhood. There’s not much left of it now,” said Betty Boyd, president of the Pralltown Neighborhood Association.
Subtext, which has built similar student housing apartments in other university towns, has filed for a zone change for more than a dozen properties on South Limestone, Prall and Montmullin streets. The developers want to change those properties from an assortment of retail and residential zones to a corridor node zone, a new zone that allows for more density— such as more apartments —along major corridors such as South Limestone.
The plans show retail on the first floor facing South Limestone, an interior courtyard and an interior garage with 448 parking spaces.
The tallest part of the building will also be on South Limestone. The building will be slightly shorter on the Prall and Montmullin sides due to the slope of the properties, according to the plans.
The city no longer has minimum parking requirements for developments, but the building will have more parking than other private student housing complexes around UK, said Nick Nicholson, a lawyer for Subtext.
The proposed building is across the street from Memorial Hall and the UK J. David Rosenberg College of Law and the Gatton College of Business and Economics.
If the building is built, Nicholson said, most students would likely walk or bike to campus from the complex.
UK’s need for off-campus student housing climbs
As UK’s enrollment continues to rise, the need for more off-campus student housing has also increased.
UK does not require freshman students to live on campus. But data released this week shows UK is expecting more than 5,500 first-year students to live on campus, and around 8,000 total students to live on campus, though UK officials have cautioned that those numbers will fluctuate during the fall semester.
Total enrollment is now at around 35,000, which includes the university’s many graduate programs.
In addition to the new apartment proposal, UK is building more on-campus dorms. For the first time since 2017 the university has started construction on a new dorm, which will have 649 beds and is expected to open in August 2026.
Tearing down existing buildings
To build the apartment building, the developers will have to raze multiple student housing units, mostly homes, and several retail buildings at 545-549, 553, 563 S. South Limestone Street. Other buildings that will be torn down include 121-123, 127, 129, 131, 133 Prall Street; 118, 120, 124, 128, 134, 138, 140, 142, 146, 150, and 154 Montmullin.
The proposed area to be rezoned is roughly 2 acres.
Though the Pralltown area dates back more than 150 years, Nicholson said many of the buildings are relatively new student housing built in the last 40 years. The oldest buildings are the South Limestone retail buildings. The building at 545-549 South Limestone Street was built in 1925, according to Fayette County Property Value Administration records.
“There are no buildings of historical significance,” Nicholson said. “This is all retail and student housing. Much of it was acquired and redeveloped in the 1980s.”
The South Limestone properties have had multiple tenants over the decades. It now has several restaurants, smoke shops and Phillips Market, a longtime local market.
Nicholson said the city’s comprehensive plan and recent updates to city zoning ordinances call for more density along the city’s major corridors. The Subtext plan takes a block of what is now existing student housing and creates more living units or more student housing.
Boyd said Pralltown, which includes Prall, Colfax and Muntmullin streets, has been slowly purchased by real estate developers who have bought homes, torn down or remodeled older structures, and built student-centered homes.
“They are boxing us in. There aren’t a whole lot of us left out here,” Boyd said. Boyd said neighbors have also voiced concerns over parking and traffic, which is hectic and causes headaches when UK’s fall semester starts.
Subtext has built similar student housing complexes in Tempe, Ariz., Knoxville and Nasvhille, Tenn, according to its website. Its student housing is typically branded Verve.
The proposed rezoning and development plan is scheduled to be heard at a planning commission meeting on Sept. 26.
More private student housing popping up
A similar proposal to tear down a block on East Maxwell Street for high-rise student housing was met with resistance from many in that neighborhood, in part because the properties were older homes that some argued should be preserved.
In 2019, a bid to rezone the Maxwell Street block for the high-rise apartment was turned down by the planning commission. A different proposal from a different developer that had fewer apartments and was only six stories was approved in 2023. The original plans called for a 10-story building.
Other private student housing developments built in recent years include two Hub properties — one on South Upper Street and a second on South Limestone and Virginia Avenue. Both have first-floor retail space and upper levels of apartments.
Several private student housing developers have pushed to acquire property in the areas around UK in recent years.
Subtext had previously tried to buy land in the area around the former Mellow Mushroom building on South Upper Street. But those efforts stalled after pushback from property owners in the area.
This story was originally published August 9, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
