Developers have withdrawn a $42.8 million plan for upscale condominiums at Bower Hill Road and Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon, municipal planner Keith McGill said.

"We received a letter dated March 22, 2010, from Zamagias Properties, indicating that they were actually withdrawing the approved project for the site, and really just indicating that they would be re-applying to the municipality at some point in the future for a different project at the site," he said. "But they have not given us any details as to what that project would be or any further information."

David Martens, the chief operating officer for Zamagias, said the company is working on alternatives but declined to go into further detail.

Zamagias Properties was granted an 18-month extension on its construction deadline in September. The company had previously been granted a 12-month extension on their deadlines in late 2008.

Some buildings were demolished on the site but no construction has been done, Mr. McGill said.

Michael Heins, chief financial officer for Zamagias Properties and project manager for Washington Park, said in September that the condominium markets weren't supportive of that kind of development. He said then there had been "some activity" but no contracts signed to purchase any of the proposed units, which were priced between $300,000 and $1 million.

The original plans for the development called for 72 residential units to be built in a two-phase construction, with 14,000 square feet of first-floor retail space.

A ceremonial groundbreaking was held Nov. 2, 2007.

School board members and commissioners voted two years ago to approve a tax-increment financing program that would divert $10 million in tax revenue over 20 years to support the project.

In September, Mr. Heins said an 18-month extension would give extra time for the economy to recover, but a commissioner asked then if there was a backup plan. Mr. Heins said then that a plan B development may be strictly retail and office space, not residential.

That piece of land is zoned R-7, high-density residential, and would have to be changed to allow a different type of development, Mr. McGill said.

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