It's not just high construction costs holding up development in Detroit.

One high-profile Midtown project has been wounded — but not fatally — in the ongoing war between two factions on the Wayne State University board of governors.

In a closed session last year, the board deadlocked 4-4 on a vote to sell the property at Cass Avenue and Canfield Street to Detroit-based developer Broder & Sachse Real Estate Services Inc.

Michael Busuito, M.D., a Wayne State board member, confirmed that the board split on the sale of the 1.5 acres at 66 W. Canfield St. and 4400-10 Cass Ave. He said several issues caused him to vote against the sale, including long delays on the project by the developer and what he and some other board members felt was an undervaluation of the site. He also said there were issues related to the ongoing bitterness over the Wayne State University leasing with an option to buy the old Hospice of Michigan building off Mack Avenue in Detroit.

He said he is hopeful the board can reach an agreement to sell the property in the next few months.

Todd Sachse, founder and CEO of Detroit-based Sachse Construction and vice president of Broder & Sachse, declined comment other than confirming that a vote to sell the land failed.

"The purchase and sale of real estate is a matter handled in executive session due to the obvious needs for confidentiality in negotiations. This project is still under consideration by the board," said Marilyn Kelly, chair of the board of governors, in an emailed statement.

The bitter divide has enveloped the Detroit university.

As my colleague Kurt Nagl wrote last week: "Hostility among the university's board of governors has led to lawsuits between board members, sparked a vote to fire President M. Roy Wilson that Michigan's deputy attorney general deemed to be illegitimate, and triggered an investigation into board ethics by the Higher Learning Commission, which accredits the university."

My other colleague Jay Greene gets into it here too.

Busuito has advocated for Wilson's ouster while Kelly has defended him.

An appraisal of the land done two years ago by Detroit-based The Harbin Group Inc. on behalf of Wayne State puts its value at $5.468 million. Busuito said the proposed purchase price was 3 percent higher than that, which would come to $5.63 million.

It's been an uphill battle for the project, which originally had been planned for 248 apartments, a 120-room hotel, 19,000 square feet of retail and a 300-person conference center after awarding an April 2013 request for proposals to Broder & Sachse and entering into a memorandum of understanding for the $60 million project with the developer in November 2013.

Instead of apartments, the plan has now shifted toward condominiums.

The property would have originally been leased to Broder & Sachse, but would be sold to the company under the condo plan. That's because projects are completed using master deeds, and individual units are then sold to buyers; if Broder & Sachse leased the land, it would eventually return to the university at the end of that agreement.