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A private developer’s $38 million plan to transform a portion of Laclede Avenue with student housing for St. Louis University has been canceled.

Campus Apartments, a Philadelphia company that specializes in student housing, had proposed building a four-story, 135-unit dwelling for about 500 students. The plan for the 3800 block of Laclede also included a 400-car parking garage. In December, company officials said they hoped to have the project done in time for the start of SLU’s fall semester next year. But those plans fizzled.

Alderman Joe Roddy, whose 17th Ward includes the area, said he believed the university was never fully committed to the project.

"We were getting mixed signals from SLU all along," he said. "I think any student housing project down there that doesn’t have the support of SLU is probably ill-conceived. They’re going to know their student housing needs better than anyone else."

Roddy pointed out that several apartment developments catering to students have recently been built or are under construction near the university. He added that building too many student-oriented housing units would be bad for the area. "It doesn’t do anybody any good to have apartments targeted at students if the university isn’t going to be growing in enrollment life insurance rates." A university spokesman referred questions about the project to Campus Apartments. The company’s only comment this week was to confirm that the project is dead.

Before the plan was abandoned this year, Campus Apartments had sought a 10-year tax abatement from the city and a mixed-use rezoning for the property. The building would have gone up on a parking lot owned by SLU, plus several adjoining properties, including one occupied by Laclede Street Bar & Grill. Campus Apartments had planned to transfer the entire project’s site to SLU, then take it back through a long-term ground lease.

Clayton Berry, a SLU spokesman, wouldn’t comment on the student housing proposal. He said university enrollment continued to grow slowly and that last fall the university had 12,733 students, 7,814 of them undergraduates. SLU provides housing for about 3,500 students in four complexes.

Campus Apartments’ website says the company has developed off-campus student housing with 21,000 beds for more than 50 colleges in 17 states.

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