Chicago-based Up Campus had outlined plans to rezone property in downtown Lexington to make way for a 10-story, 225-unit apartment building. The development would have affected residents on East High Street, Hagerman Court, and Stone Avenue.
But opponents who spoke at a Planning Commission meeting pushed back on the project, saying it would negatively impact historic homes and affordable housing.
Critics took aim at the wider trend of permitting the growth of off-campus student housing.
"This proposal should not be approved because it is extractive and predatory. It's part of a development gold rush land grab that is destroying an entire section of the historic Aylesford neighborhood," one speaker argued, while another called the student housing complexes "monoliths."
Planning Commissioner Judy Worth agreed that the new buildings do affect the feel of the areas where they're built.
"If I wanted new and slick, I'd go home to... Dallas. But I love it here. And I think that the area that we're talking about is part of that essential character," she said.
Brandon Gross, attorney for the developers, said if the commission decided nothing within the National Register was open to redevelopment, then "almost nothing in downtown could ever get redeveloped."
Still, in this case, the commission ultimately agreed with the neighborhoods and voted unanimously against the zone change.