Why is a downtown Lexington block set to be razed? No one will say.
.jpeg "Demolition permits have been filed for a block of buildings near the University of Kentucky campus. Buildings set to be razed include apartments on Lyndhurst Place.")
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Demolition permit applications were filed June 5 and June 7 for six Lexington properties.
- City records show no development plans have been filed for the Lyndhurst and Kalmia.
- Tenants at Stonehurst Studios must be out by July 31.
Demolition applications were filed last week for six properties near the booming East Maxwell Street corridor. Now tenants in those buildings are hustling to find new homes, and historic preservationists and activists are scrambling to figure out why the buildings are being razed.
Demolition permit applications were filed June 5 and June 7 for 256, 264, 266 and 270 Lyndhurst Place, as well as 265 and 271 Kalmia Ave., by Wisconsin-based Findorff Construction, city records show. That’s the same company that filed demolition permits in November 2025 for other properties on Kalmia, East Maxwell and Rose Street for Chicago-based Core Spaces, which had proposed an eight-story private, student apartment complex on that property.
But that project is not moving forward.
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council denied a zone change for the Core Spaces project in November. Residents in the Aylesford neighborhood strongly opposed the zone change, arguing the area has been inundated with private-high rise apartments geared toward University of Kentucky students. Two high-rise student apartments have previously been approved in a three-block span of East Maxwell.
Emails to officials with Findorff and Core Spaces about the demolition permits were not immediately returned. Owners of some of the properties on Lyndhurst and Kalmia did not immediately return phone calls or could not be located for comment.
City records show no development plans have been filed for the Lyndhurst Place and Kalmia Avenue properties. Most of those properties are older apartment buildings.
It takes a minimum of 30 days for the city to approve a demolition permit.
Why are the buildings coming down?
Historic preservationists and tenants of some of those buildings set to come down are scrambling to figure out what is going on and why.
A block party is being held on Kalmia from 3 to 8 p.m. Saturday to help bring awareness to the issue.. It’s hosted by Aylesford Action, a local group which has fought some of proposed student housing projects, and the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation.
“I’m concerned that this shadowy mass demolition in a National Register district undermines the entire planning and rezoning process,” said Zak Leonard, historic preservation manager for the Blue Grass Trust.
Leonard and others are worried if demolition of properties on Lyndhurst and Kalmia streets moves forward, it will be easier for Core Spaces or other private developers to get approval for a high-rise apartment.
“Essentially, this would allow Core Spaces to sidestep the comp plan when they do go for the rezoning - they can just claim that no affordable, historic housing exists anymore on the site,” Leonard said.
The comprehensive plan guides development and determines what types of development can go where.
Tenants scramble to find new, affordable apartments
Many tenants at Stonehurst Studios at 256 Lyndhurst Place received notification from its apartment management group last month their leases would be terminated. Tenants have to be out by July 31, according to documents provided to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Scott Zanarkand is one of those tenants now trying to find a new and affordable apartment.
Stonehurst Studios is not high-end, Zanarkand said. He sometimes has to do his laundry in his bathtub because the apartments’ washer and dryers are busted.
But it is affordable; $570 a month. That low rent helped Zanarkand attend UK. uDe to financial constraints, he won’t be able to go back to UK this fall. He’s now scrambling to find a new place to live.
Zanarkand and other tenants have contacted Lexington council members and other groups to try to figure out what they can do to fight the eviction, if anything.
Finding an affordable place to live near UK is nearly impossible, Zanarkand said. He has lived at Stonehurst Studios for three years.
Many of the newer, private apartments being built around UK’s campus charge north of $800 for a bedroom.
“I can’t afford that,” Zanarkand said.
This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 1:53 PM.
