Where are new student apartments being built in Lexington? A look at the projects
As Lexington residents and city officials struggle with the continued need for housing, one demographic will see more options in the coming years — student renters.
A growing number of properties, particularly in the downtown East Maxwell Street area, have been proposed for redevelopment targeted at University of Kentucky students seeking off-campus housing. The latest such plan is set to be heard by a city planning subcommittee this week.
UK has broken its enrollment records every year since 2019. The university has more than 37,800 enrolled students this fall, compared to 30,545 students in the fall 2019 semester.
A new dorm building is under construction on campus and set to bring an additional 644 beds in 2026, but some residents think the university is adding too many students without building enough housing to accommodate them, putting pressure on neighborhoods near campus.
Lexington, like many US cities, faces a housing crisis. A 2024 study from EHI Consultants found Fayette County needs 22,549 additional housing units to meet demand. More than half of Lexington’s renters are paying more than 30% of their income on rent.
Of those 22,549, EHI found Lexington needs roughly 4,739 additional student housing units.
Here’s a look at the current off-campus projects, and some potential areas developers may be eyeing next.
Two consecutive blocks of Maxwell Street will soon add more than 1,000 student bedrooms
Two apartment complexes will soon sit side-by-side on East Maxwell Street.
One project, being built by Ohio-based developer Stavroff Land and Development, will be a six-story complex with 277 units and 655 bedrooms aimed at student renters. The building is under construction along East Maxwell, on the block between Lexington Avenue and Stone Avenue.
The project got final approval from the Lexington Urban County Planning Commission in January. Members delayed final approval for several months after Stravroff submitted a final development plan they felt was too different from the initial approval.
The Stavroff project is expected to open in fall 2027.
On an adjacent block, St. Louis-based developer Subtext will build an eight-story apartment complex between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Stone Avenue. It will feature 279 units and 795 bedrooms. The final plan for the project is still awaiting city approval.
The two projects will result in East Maxwell Street having 556 apartments and 1,450 bedrooms coming online.
A proposal for a third complex on the street, from Stone Avenue to Rose Street, was denied by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council in November. That development, proposed by Core Spaces, would have been eight stories housing 332 units and 1,010 bedrooms.
Core Spaces owns and operates the two HUB apartment complexes on South Upper Street and Virginia Avenue.
The properties the company sought to develop on East Maxwell are zoned for medium-density residential use, and Core Spaces or another developer could build a four-story apartment building on the site without any public input.
Subtext takes second stab at Pralltown development
City officials rejected a developer’s plan for a high-rise student apartment complex in one of Lexington’s first Black neighborhood last year, but the effort is not off the table.
Subtext has filed a second plan for apartments at the same location. That plan proposes a seven-story, 170-unit complex at 118 Montmullin St., 121 and 123 Prall St., and 545 to 549, 553 and 563 South Limestone. The development would have 491 bedrooms and 215 parking spaces in a parking garage.
The second proposal is smaller than one submitted by Subtext in 2024, down from eight stories, 239 units and 799 bedrooms. The initial plan also extended farther into the neighborhood along Montmullin Street, requiring the demolition of 11 single-family homes. Those 11 properties are not included in the new plan.
The city planning commission rejected the 2024 zone change request and development plan in a 5 to 4 vote, citing concerns over the plan’s impact on the Pralltown neighborhood.
Pralltown was founded in the late 1800s as a place the recently freed enslaved could become homeowners. Now, the neighborhood is overwhelmingly comprised of student rental housing.
The second Subtext plan will be voted on by two planning commission subcommittees Thursday, Dec. 4. The full commission will likely take the plan up in mid-December.
What other properties could be up for redevelopment?
While no development plans for these properties have been filed yet, two prominent downtown locations could be redeveloped soon.
The YMCA of Central Kentucky recently sold the High Street location to a Florida-based student housing developer, Tramwell Webb Partners Inc. The High Street YMCA will stay open through March. No development plans have yet been filed for any housing projects on the property.
The YMCA property is currently zoned downtown business, which does not have any height or density limits for apartment buildings. Any development could be approved without any public input opportunities, since there would be no zone change required.
The U.S. Post Service office building on East High Street was also sold to a Florida development group recently.
Lexington High Street Partnership LP of West Palm Beach, Fla., purchased the property for $2.77 million Oct. 31, according to Fayette County property records. Officials with Lexington High Street Partnership LP could not be located for comment, and no proposals have been submitted to the city for redevelopment as of Dec. 3.
A spokesperson for USPS told the Herald-Leader the postal service has no plans to leave the building, which it leases.
