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Trader Joe’s will not return to a proposed Northeast Portland development.

Mayor Charlie Hales‘ office announced today that a last-ditch effort to lure the national grocer back to an $8 million development planned on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard has failed. Hales went to bat for the project in early March, after Trader Joe’s pulled out of the deal because of community opposition.

Members of the African-American community did not directly oppose Trader Joe’s, but rather the proposed development because of concerns about gentrification in the neighborhood. Hales sought to assuage those concerns by proposing that $20 million of additional funding go toward affordable housing in the King neighborhood, and then appealed to Trader Joe’s to reconsider.

Despite community buy-in for a retail development on the site, Trader Joe’s informed Hales on Friday of its decision to pass, according to the announcement. Nevertheless, Hales said he would ask Majestic Realty to remain the site’s developer, and direct the Portland Development Commission to restart the project immediately.