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Project developers, from left, Darren Wyville, Bill Phillips and Robert Darden await the beginning of demolition at the Adams Bag Company Paper Mill in Chagrin Falls in August 2014. They had planned to convert the historic property into the Spillway mixed-use development. No one knows why the project now sits idle and developers are not talking. (Ray Jablonski/Northeast Ohio Media Group)

CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio - Village residents and officials are questioning the future of the Chagrin Spillway project.

The website heralding the 8-acre mixed-use development has gone dark. Developer Robert Darden said in a message, "all I can tell you right now is that things are on hold. Sorry I can't elaborate, but that's all I can tell you for now. If you want to check back mid summer I may have more to share, but that's it."

Developers broke ground on the project in 2013.

Last year Darden shared his vision for the former Adams Bag Plant and Paper Mill. He hoped 45,000 square feet of plant would become restaurant space, a microbrewery, retail and office space, and said leases for 95 percent of the space had been secured.

Now the site sits idle, covered in graffiti.

Chagrin Falls Village Administrator Benjamin Himes said village officials haven't heard from developers since they listed the property, included on the National Register of Historic Places, for sale last fall.

Village officials had hoped to use tax dollars generated by the project to pay for public improvement projects.

The three principals - Darden, Darren Wyville and Bill Phillips -- are high school friends who bought the aging bag plant for $450,000 and unveiled their plans in 2008.

The project was immediately delayed while village residents raised concerns over noise, increased traffic and potential foul odors from the brewery, but voters overwhelmingly supported a zoning change in 2009 to make the development possible.

Darden estimated construction costs at nearly $10 million, but since the development would include structures dating from 1850 to the 1920s, nearly $6.5 million of those costs would be eligible for federal and state financing incentives.

In 2011, developers sold 10 acres to the village for $400,000. The land was used to expand Whitesburg Park, a condition of the sale.

*This story has been edited to show the full message received from Mr. Darden.