It turns out you won't be able to live above the Meijer Inc. grocery store planned for years on East Jefferson Avenue after all.

Dennis Archer Jr., one of the project's developers, told Crain's that the 213 units that had been part of the original plan for what at the time was a $60 million development are no longer in the cards, meaning that only the approximately 43,000-square-foot grocery store and parking is part of the vision at this time. He said construction costs have ballooned by 30 percent but rents haven't kept pace, meaning that the residential wouldn't be financially viable.

"We are entrepreneurs, and while it is important that we deliver a great grocery option for Lafayette Park and the broader area, as well as we would have loved to deliver quality apartment living, the increase in expense associated with ground-up development at that scale in Detroit ... we saw pricing go up 30-plus percent and unfortunately the numbers didn't pencil with that increase," Archer said last week. "The boom that is happening in Detroit is a positive one with all the activity, but one of the byproducts of that is the supply and demand shift in the trades to execute this business. You've seen multiple projects either placed on hold or permanently shelved and it's important to us to deliver as much of the vision as possible."

It's only the most recent Detroit development to be restructured or reimagined, following the tabling of condos in the TechTown neighborhood by Detroit-based The Platform LLC; a Brush Park mixed-use project by John Rhea and Schostak Bros. & Co. with hundreds of residences being dropped; another scrapping of condos in lieu of a Cambria Hotel by the Means Group Inc. and Holdwick Land Development LLC; a fluctuating design vision for the site of the former J.L. Hudson's department store and a redesign of the Monroe Blocks project, both by Dan Gilbert.

Many others have faced delays around the city.

The Meijer project, 1475 E. Jefferson Ave., was first revealed in October 2017 with the intent to have it open by now, but a tough labor market has driven up construction costs, sending developers back to architects and other contractors to cut costs to fit within budgets that in some cases were set more than a year in advance. Today, the 2.5-acre site where the store and apartments were to sit remains vacant at East Jefferson between Rivard and Riopelle streets.

Archer said the decision to abandon the apartment component came this summer. He says the plan is now "getting in the ground in the spring as soon as the weather breaks."

In an email, he said construction is anticipated to be complete by June 21, 2021. He declined to reveal the new cost of the development and the financing structure.

When asked if Meijer had any concerns about not having the residential component as part of the development's footprint, Archer said the company's "real estate leadership has been supportive along the whole way."

"They were a partner in the discussion along the way and never showed any level of doubt in regards to moving forward in this direction," he said.

The project is a joint venture between Archer Jr. and Bloomfield Hills-based Lormax Stern Development Co. LLC. Grand Rapids-based Prime Development had been a project partner but Archer did not identify them as one in an email this weekend, although it is still featured on the Prime Development website. A voicemail was left with Marcel Burgler, head of Prime Development, seeking comment.

Archer said in an email that Bingham Farms-based Rogvoy Architects PC is the project architect while Lormax Stern is the general contractor/construction manager. Previously, Detroit-based Neumann Smith Architecture was the project architect while Detroit-based Clark Construction Co. was the general contractor.

A follow-up email was sent to Archer asking why the firms were changed and if they had been notified.

The project has been in the works for about six years and would bring the city its third Meijer, after a pair of full-sized locations opened at Eight Mile Road and Woodward Avenue in 2013 and Grand River Avenue and West McNichols on the city's northwest side in 2015.

Those supercenter locations are substantially larger than the planned East Jefferson store, which is expected to only sell groceries.