Developers are breaking ground on a number of student apartment complexes across downtown Lexington, but the increase is pinching the city's already-tight housing market.
At the start of this year’s fall semester, the University of Kentucky welcomed 39,541 students, an uptick of more than 1,000 from last year and nearly 7,000 since 2022.
Of that number, roughly 8,500 live in dorms, with the other three-quarters living off-campus.
Private developers hope to attract those roughly 31,000 UK students into a number of apartments marketed directly to them and springing up in downtown neighborhoods.
Lexington council member Emma Curtis, a vocal opponent of such developments, said she supports more housing for students, but worries many are unaffordable and even predatory.
“They are essentially private dormitories that are being marketed as luxury and have rents that are deeply unaffordable,” Curtis said. “The only people that can afford to live there are college students with wealthy parents.”
Some projects, like one on Maxwell Street planned by Chicago-based Core Spaces, have seen backlash from preservationists and neighborhood advocates. The company already operates two complexes off Limestone and South Upper Street.
Last year, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council rejected a zoning change that would have allowed a larger development on Maxwell, but the company still plans to build under the neighborhood’s existing zoning.
Curtis said she’s wary.
“They build it cheap,” she said. “They are unresponsive when there are tenants and residents in need, when there are things that go wrong with those apartments, and then at the end of the day, nobody wins except them.”
The company and its supporters said the developments ease the pressure across Lexington’s housing market. According to EHI Consultants, the city is 22,000 units short.
“Through those communities, we've seen firsthand the strong demand for this type of housing and the limited supply available in close proximity to campus,” Austin Pagnotta, Core Spaces’ managing director of acquisitions, wrote WEKU in an emailed statement. “Much of that unmet demand is simply being absorbed elsewhere in the market. As Lexington continues to grow, adding thoughtfully planned housing supply is an important part of easing pressure across the broader housing ecosystem and creating more options for residents.”
City officials have considered a growing number of student housing proposals amid a citywide housing shortage, some of which are now under construction.
Those projects include a 656-bed complex along East Maxwell Street developed by Ohio-based Stavroff Land and Development, another 799-bed Maxwell project being developed by St. Louis-based Subtext, a 972-bed complex developed by Georgia-based Landmark on South Broadway and another 717-bed Core Spaces complex, also along South Broadway.
Lexington director of planning Jim Duncan noted there could be even more proposals on the way.
“We're going to likely see, in the next six months, approval of over 5,000 bedrooms, over 2,000 dwelling units targeted primarily at student housing in the downtown area and around campus,” Duncan said in an interview last month.
Lexington Vice Mayor Dan Wu agrees new housing is needed.
“We're trying not to displace people and we're trying not to potentially radically change neighborhoods,” Wu said. “At the same time, we simply don't have enough housing and housing choices for everyone to live, right?”
New housing in Lexington is a challenge due to the urban service boundary, which sets strict limits to protect agricultural land.
To meet Lexington’s housing goals, Wu favors higher density and infill.
“If there are more units out there for rent and available, the quality is going to naturally go up because people are going to have more choices,” he said. “They don't have to settle for the slumlords or the badly constructed apartments.”
Duncan also said development in areas recently added inside the urban service boundary can be a challenge.
“They're trying to meet challenges on undeveloped land that cause some great expense,” he said. “Especially when you're talking about having to put in the brand new infrastructure. Roads, sewers, all of that for new housing, that they're not necessarily having to do for the student housing because so much of that already exists and they’re just building on that.”
But some neighbors worry the high cost of such units will displace existing residents as properties once rented out by students are demolished.
Carrick Moon organizes with Aylesford Action, a neighborhood advocacy group. He also lives next to the proposed Maxwell Street development.
“If this is going to happen, the people that are going to be displaced need to be taken care of, and ideally, it's not going to happen, and what's going to be built is going to be affordable or mixed income,” Moon said.
Fellow organizer Gray Broderson wants to see more affordable housing for students and residents, but developed by local companies instead.
“Housing needs to be created by the people that are living and experiencing life in the city, not outside developers, not private equity firms that have $25 million that they can dump into just the purchasing of the homes,” Broderson said.
