The City Council of University City has voted to allow Washington University to take the next step in its $80 million development project on the Delmar Loop.

A pair of small buildings on the Loop will be demolished Monday to formally start the process, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported earlier this week.

Called the “Loop Student Living Initiative,” the project will include 240 to 265 student apartments in three buildings on Enright Avenue and two on Delmar Boulevard, which will also include storefronts. Student Life reported on the housing project last semester. The apartments are projected to open in August 2014.

Part of the 4.4-acre site is in the city of St. Louis, but most is in University City.

“This project along Delmar is a big plus not only for this neighborhood but the whole city,” University City Mayor Shelley Welsch said in a statement.

Construction on one Delmar building is slated to begin in April. The University plans to break ground on two of the Enright buildings this spring and on the other Delmar building in September, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Construction of the fifth building has yet to be scheduled.