“The historical value that’s down here has been preserved for so long that it’s really difficult to come in and just start adding residential,” said Robert Boling, who does marketing for the family-owned food and clothing store Texas Hot Stuff.

The 825-unit apartment project by San Antonio-based Kairoi Residential will be built on the site of the old Swift Armour Meat Packing Plant at Packers Street and East Exchange Avenue.

Boling fears it will stick out like a sore thumb, and because of concerns surrounding the project, the city is considering making it more difficult for developers to build apartments in the eastern end of the Stockyards.

Under the city’s proposal, apartments would no longer be allowed east of Packers Street and Niles City Boulevard without a zoning change. The zoning commission will consider the change Nov. 9, and it will go before the City Council Dec. 13.

Council member Carlos Flores, whose district includes the Stockyards, said the change would not be a ban, but rather the proposal updates the zoning to make sure apartments are built in areas where they’re most appropriate. Flores said a large number of apartments packed into the east end of the Stockyards would cause traffic jams.

The number of permits for apartments in the city has gone up 50% in the past five years, according to the city’s Development Services Department. The city approved 685 multifamily permits through July, more than it did in all of 2021.

Boling pointed to the recently opened Hotel Drover as an example of how development could be done in a way that reflects the Stockyards’ character.

The units would be split among five buildings and include 50,000 square feet of office space, which has already been rented out, according to Tommy Mann of Kairoi Residential.

When the city updated its building codes for the Stockyards in 2017, developers weren’t that interested in putting apartment complexes there, according to a city zoning document.

Any part of the project currently in the city’s development pipeline would be grandfathered in with the old zoning, a spokesperson for the city’s development services department said.

Kaiori senior vice president Shawn Hatter said his company is trying to figure out how the proposed change would apply to the project.

Business owners said they are not entirely opposed to residential development.

Judy Henson, who owns toy store Texas Gold Minors, said she wouldn’t mind a small condo development, but said a massive complex would be too much.

Any future development would need to fit with the Stockyards, “classy western style,” Henson said.