Baker College has tossed out its proposal to build a flagship campus in downtown Ferndale after failing to come to an agreement with city officials to address community concerns about parking during campus construction.

City Council was scheduled to meet Monday to decide if it would grant Baker a 100-day extension on an exclusivity agreement with the city that was reached in January.

The Daily Tribune first reported the pullback.

"Following extensive exploration and a thorough due diligence process, Baker College has elected not to move forward with the City of Ferndale as the location for our new metro-Detroit campus," Baker College COO Jacqui Spice said in a statement emailed to Crain's. "Throughout the Ferndale negotiations, we maintained work on contingency plans and we remain steadfast and are committed to serving our students and supporting the communities of SE Michigan."

Jordan Twardy, Ferndale's community and economic development director, addressed the concerns in a memo for the Monday meeting.

"Much effort has gone into identifying this project's potential opportunities and working through solutions to potential concerns," Twardy wrote. "While that effort has made progress, the CED Department believes that the city and business community's preference for preserving access to existing public parking, and Baker's need to provide a Metro Detroit campus for their community by Winter 2021 are irreconcilable."

In a letter addressed to city officials, Patrick Ong, principal and project manager for Bloomfield Hills-based developer Acquest Realty Advisors, said the issue of parking while the college is being constructed was the "one obstacle that could not be overcome."The only answer was to build the parking deck first and then begin constructing the college, but that would have pushed back the project a year and a half, which isn't in line with Baker's master plan, he wrote.