The loan from Minneapolis-based Dougherty Funding LLC was to close May 31, according to a letter sent to the city of Rochester. That date came and went with no deal being done.

The Gus Chafoulias-led investment group that's developing the project said Wednesday that part of the financing has fallen through. The statement, put out by Rochester-based Titan Development and Investments, which is involved in the project, says an investment group led by Saudi Prince Turki Bin Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud and Anas Abukhadra, of Minneapolis, has failed "to fulfill its obligations."

"As a result, the project had no alternative but to terminate the investment group's rights to the project and pursue negotiations with potential replacement investors. It is anticipated that closing will take place once those negotiations are concluded," the statement says.

When asked what this could mean for the timing of the project, Titan spokeswoman Sheila Thoma said the investment group is still "hopeful to start the project this year." She also said that they are in negotiations with investors to replace Prince Turki Bin Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud's financing.

The statement noted that other project "stakeholders" had met their obligations to close the loan. Those stakeholders were identified as the "city, Kraus-Anderson Construction, local unions, lenders, including Dougherty Funding LLC, West Bank, local union pension funds through their advisor, Whitestar Advisors LLC, and Premier Bank, and Mr. Chafoulias."

"With any large-scale project like this, there are a number of parties involved," Chafoulis says in the email statement. "We are deeply appreciative of all of our stakeholders who have stood by our side. Unfortunately, one of them didn't follow through as promised. We are optimistic of our next steps, though, and hope to close on the transaction soon."

This high-profile project was approved by the Destination Medical Center Corp. in 2015 as the first major development to count toward Rochester's DMC commitment. When asked about the delay, the executive director of the DMC Economic Development Agency stressed that "DMC is a private sector, market-driven initiative."

Could the DMC EDA try to help with the funding to get this first project moving yet this year?

"The EDA works with the City and DMC Corp. to manage the public financing of public projects, but the EDA does not assist with private project financing," Clarke said via email. "We are not involved with the financing of the Broadway at Center project and don't have any insights with respect to the views of any of the potential investors."

When asked what this delay could mean for DMC's 2016 goals, Clarke said she expects to show "considerable progress" for the year.

"As a market-driven initiative, some proposed DMC private projects will move to completion and others will not -- no surprise. It is important to understand that there is significant and serious interest by developers and investors in doing projects in Rochester. The market is solidly validating the DMC vision," she said.

The city has committed $6.5 million for the project, which is to include a public parking ramp. The Rochester City Council approved plans for that ramp Wednesday night.

City Administrator Steve Kvenvold told the Post-Bulletin this morning that the timing of this project is key for the city's future parking plans.

"We have a lot of time and money invested in this particular project. My viewpoint is that we need to let it play it out a little bit longer," he said, but "If we approach fall without any movement, we're going to have to make some changes."