City council has voted against giving an additional $10 million to Fanshawe College to buy and renovate the the Kingsmill's building to expand their downtown presence.
The motion was defeated in a 7-7 tie vote.
A mid-August deadline had been set by the college to finalize the purchase of the Dundas Street building and Fanshawe was promising to bring an additional 1,600 students to the core if the deal went through.
The proposed expansion follows the opening of Fanshawe's Centre for Digital and Performing Arts in January, which has brought about 400 students to the downtown.
The investment was recommended by the city's Corporate Services Committee last week, but a number of councillors had expressed concern.
Earlier in the evening, Councillor Stephen Orser's motion to refer the proposal back to city staff was defeated with a 7-7 tie vote.
The $10 million request would have been in addition to $20 million already promised for the downtown campus plan by the city.
The issue will return to council's agenda in September, but it's unclear if that will be too late.
