When will construction begin on High Street development across from Rupp Arena?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Developers plan to begin construction on the 17-acre High Street site in late 2026.
- Project will include hotel, apartments, multiple garages, a 53,000 sqft grocery.
- Developers will build parking first, seek state infrastructure funds
Developers of the 17-acre High Street parking lot across from Central Bank Center and Rupp Arena said Thursday construction will likely start in late 2026.
Dallas-based Lincoln Properties and the Webb Companies of Lexington have proposed a multi-use project that includes a hotel, apartment complex, multiple parking garages, a grocery store and other retail spots.
The start date for construction has been pushed back several times. In January, the developers said construction would begin this year.
The first structure to go up will likely be a parking garage, said Tyler Jones, executive vice president of Lincoln Properties, during a Lexington Center Corp. board meeting Thursday.
The group is in final negotiations with a major grocery store chain and hopes to announce it by the end of the year or the first several months of 2026, Jones said.
That retail location will be a 53,000-square-foot full-service grocery store with a pharmacy, he said. The opening will likely be sometime in 2029. That means at least one of the parking structures will be built first, Jones said.
The group has also hired a general contractor and an architect.
Developers also met with city officials to go over the possible site plan Thursday. A preliminary subdivision plan has already been filed.
The lot is owned by Lexington Center Corp., which oversees Central Bank Center and Rupp Arena. As part of the development agreement, Webb and Lincoln Properties, the Webb Companies’ development partner, must provide 1,600 parking spaces to replace surface parking on the lot during construction.
The deal between Lexington Center Corp. and the developers was first announced in May 2022 and finalized in May 2023.
Webb has said the project will be built in phases. The first parking garage will likely be built toward the back of the property, at the corner of South Broadway and Maxwell streets. Apartments or a hotel will come next or at the same time as the parking garage, he said.
Jones said they may also ask the Lexington Center Corp. board for help lobbying state leaders for money to pay for infrastructure for the project, including moving utility lines. The amount the group will be asking for hasn’t been determined, Jones said.
The Lincoln-Webb group will pay Lexington Center Corp. $1.6 million per year while the property is being developed, according to the agreement. Once complete, the annual lease payments on the project will increase to $2 million. That annual payment will increase each year over the course of the 99-year lease, according to lease documents.
The Lexington Center Corp. board is appointed by the mayor, but is not a city government body.
This story was originally published November 21, 2025 at 9:58 AM.
