× Expand Photo courtesy of Google Maps The Everly on the Loop was under construction in October 2016. It will open in fall of 2017.

When alderwoman Lyda Krewson sponsored a board bill to help turn a vacant lot on Delmar Boulevard into luxury high-rise student housing, she probably wasn't envisioning a social media brouhaha. Tax abatements and high rents don't usually compel local students to troll property managers on Facebook—or force the aforesaid property managers into using crisis PR tactics.

Yet that’s exactly what’s been happening.

It all started with a local activist’s post, dubbing the Everly on the Loop development #LydaTowers and urging Washington University students’ attention to protest. Loyal to the Loop, wary of its gentrification, and vigilant about the use of tax incentives, people responded swiftly.

On February 14, alumni, students, and community members began writing acerbic 1-star reviews of the Everly—which hasn’t even opened yet—on the Loop’s Facebook page. None of them were valentines. So far there are 38 1-star reviews airing a number of concerns, ranging from the rental prices to the use of tax abatements to a perceived exclusion of less wealthy existing residents and the whiteness of the students pictured in several of the development’s renderings.

The project, if you’re wondering, is a 14-story, $66 million apartment complex built next to the Pageant by Clayco Corp. and Koman Group. Krewson has defended the Everly every step of the way, calling it a valid use of tax dollars, because the abandoned lot is a traditional example of blight. She also says that turning that lot into multimillion-dollar apartment building reflects abatement’s intended use, and that developing the area extends the Loop East into the city. Krewson has not responded to SLM's request for comment.

See also: Why is St. Louis trying to blight Westminster Place?

Here's a few of the reviews:

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Students have been famously resistant to high rents: when the university created its own high-rise housing development project, students cancelled their contracts with Residential Life to avoid the housing assignment, which was seen as overpriced as well as gentrifying.

At first, Everly staff responded to every single review with a templated response:

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But as reviews poured in, they gave up.

Then, employees at Campus Advantage, the national property management company that handles the Everly and 50 other properties, began chiming in with 5-star reviews that might raise the average. But St. Louisans caught on fast.

Then one of the company’s staffers poured gas on the flames.

Holli Ahiers—whose LinkedIn lists her as a Campus Advantage leasing manager for a property in Tennessee—wrote in response to the reviews, “We are working to embrace the Loop transition, not create more diversity.”

Within an hour, according to Facebook’s edit feature, she removed “not create more diversity” from her post. But not before several reviewers had a chance to comment.

Scott Duckett, Campus Advantage's chief operating officer, now says that the practice of employees reviewing properties will be discontinued. "I think there was confusion," he adds: Employees are supposed to hit "like" on pages, not review them. "That practice is coming to an end."

This morning, the Everly on the Loop removed its reviews tab from the main page. Now its rating sits at 2.2 stars.

"I think there's a lot of positive attributes associated with this property," says Duckett, who admits he doesn't know enough about St. Louis' history to understand how so much animosity was whipped up towards the project. That, he says, is something to address with the developers.

Koman has not responded to a request for comment.