PORTSMOUTH — Whole Foods Market has pulled out of the much-anticipated downtown North End Portsmouth project due to a series of delays caused by a small group of residents who continue fighting the mixed-use development.

Acting City Manager Nancy Colbert Puff said a representative of developer Chris Thompson reached out to city officials on Wednesday to give them the news.

“It’s disappointing for sure although HarborCorp is still moving forward to develop the property,” she said.

The Whole Foods Market was a key part of the project and would have given Portsmouth its long-wanted downtown grocery store.

“It’s certainly disappointing that the project can be delayed so long that it causes a prospective tenant to drop out,” Colbert Puff said.

The North End Portsmouth project, which is planned to be built on Deer Street between Maplewood Avenue and Russell Street, will include a parking garage with more than 500 spaces above and below ground, a conference center, boutique hotel and condos.

The development was known as HarborCorp when it was being reviewed by city land-use boards.

Paul Young, Thompson’s spokesman, said the developer received word that Whole Foods had terminated its agreement with the developer because of the multiple delays caused by a series of appeals, including an appeal to the state Supreme Court of the project, which is still pending.

“We’re still enthusiastic about the project and it’s moving full steam ahead,” Young said. “Unfortunately, Whole Food’s decision is a direct result of the delay tactics, which are really only hurting the people of Portsmouth.”

The delays and appeals have cost the city “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in property tax revenue, Young said, and that number will “soon be a million.”

It’s too soon for Thompson to say what will replace Whole Foods, Young said, but he added, “It’s a great location in downtown Portsmouth and we will fill it."

He predicted “people are going to be sorely disappointed and maybe a little angry.”

A request for comment made to a Whole Foods spokesperson was not immediately returned late Wednesday afternoon.

Mayor Jack Blalock called the news “very disappointing.”

“So many people that I ran across in the past year or two have been looking forward to Whole Foods being downtown, and not only having a downtown grocery, but something of their caliber and quality,” Blalock said. “It’s very disappointing that a relatively small group of people can prevent so many people from having something of that stature downtown.”

Blalock remains hopeful that Thompson will be able to convince another grocery store to replace Whole Foods.

“One thing certainly needed downtown is a grocery store with a pharmacy,” the mayor said. “I hear that from older residents and newer residents.”

A group of area residents who have consistently fought the project filed an appeal of the project's approval to the state Supreme Court in September. Portsmouth lawyer Duncan MacCallum, a two-time former City Council candidate, requested the Supreme Court hear the case after Superior Court Justice William Delker denied the group's appeal of approvals by city land-use boards.

The group is contesting the city Board of Adjustment's decision affirming the granting of a conditional-use permit for the project.

The residents and companies who joined MacCallum in filing the appeal are Betty Belcher of Greenland, Matthew and Ann Morton of Newington, Jane Man of Greenland, Gregory Sancoff of North Hampton, Nancy Steele-Elwell of Portsmouth, Belcher Market Realty, LLC of Greenland, Betty Morton Belcher Revocable Trust of Greenland, Jane Man Associates of Greenland and Seth Morton Associates of Greenland, according to court documents.

Young said both sides are still in the process of filing legal briefs with the Supreme Court and have until early spring to do so. Sometime after that, a hearing will be set in the state’s highest court, Young said.

The project was approved by both the Historic District Commission and the Planning Board in June 2015.

Young hopes the state Supreme Court rules on the appeal by “sometime this summer.” He estimated the project would take 20 months to complete.