Hipsters, entrepreneurs and fans of urban, transit-connected upscale living might have made unusual neighbors for a drilling company in an industrial corner of St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood, but a planned housing development is now off the table.

South of the Dubliner Pub and north of Vandalia Tower, developers Rich Pakonen and Clint Blaiser had proposed remaking the shuttered meatpacking plant at 2103 Wabash Ave. — the former home of the Superior Packing Company — into 64 apartments. There also would have been co-working space for new businesses and a possible speak-easy bar in the basement. The proposal is now dead, at least for the time being.

“They’ve decided not to develop the property and are surrendering their conditional use permit,” Assistant St. Paul City Attorney Rachel Tierney told city council on Wednesday.

The new housing development had posed a concern for Dan Larson, CEO of American Engineering and Testing, whose construction testing company has been headquartered in the area since 1990.

In April 2017, American Engineering Testing bought a property across from the site at 567 Cleveland Ave. and another further north at 2108 W. University Ave. The company plans to relocate field and drilling services to the Cleveland Avenue location.

Pakonen and Blaiser had planned to take advantage of federal historic tax credits to restore the two-story, 1890s-era industrial building and add 64 apartments, as well as flexible co-working spaces that can be leased and shared by creative companies and entrepreneurs.

In February, the St. Paul Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit for the Pakonen/Blaiser project. Larson appealed the decision to the city council.

“Residents occupying first-floor apartments will be living within a few feet of our operations,” reads his appeal, which predicted future noise and odor complaints could limit the company’s ability to complete its work or expand. AET employs 250 engineers, scientists and technicians in St. Paul, and a total of 400 in 18 offices across the country, he said.

After weeks of negotiation, the housing development has been withdrawn. A reporter’s call on Wednesday to a spokesman for the housing developers was not immediately returned. “The ownership group … has not made any decisions related to developing the property but has withdrawn the application for a special conditions use permit,” said spokesman Mike Zipko, in an email after the vote.

The tension between established employers and new residential uses in the industrial area isn’t exactly new, but it’s been heightened since Metro Transit’s Green Line began rolling through the neighborhood in June 2014.

Over the border in Minneapolis, Surly Brewing opened a destination brewery north of University Avenue in late 2014, and new attractions — from a Fresh Thyme grocery to hotels, taprooms and upscale and affordable housing — have been opening at a steady clip ever since on both sides of the city line.