Roseland Property and Lennar Urban Northeast were supposed to build the new East Pier (Portside at Pier One?), a seven-building, $275 million, 550-unit luxury condo and apartment complex on 13-acres of waterfront property, in East Boston, but things got bogged-down, along the way.

Earlier this month, MassPort, which owns the land (and who would have continued to own the land, granting the developers / owners a 99-years' lease), held a public meeting to discuss the project and to give area residents an update.

Apparently, the developers told MassPort, prior to the meeting, that they can't figure out a way to make a profit, any longer, and are reconsidering their options, before breaking ground.

According to a local blogger, "the claim is that, given the increased construction costs and the softening condo market, they expect a loss of anywhere between 11-15%."

Further, "the expected return on investment originally was 3-4%, which is significantly lower than the 15-20% that is typical of these kinds of developers."

However, MassPort says the developers have not alerted them to any definitive changes to their original proposal.

Roseland has until November to do something or else they have lost their bid, and the $20 million that they've put into the project.

The assumption on the part of some is that the developers will only agree to go forward if the condo part of the project is delayed or canceled, with an increase in the number of apartments taking its place.

In my book, a wise decision, and not just because of a slower real estate market. I heard that the developers were planning on listing the condos for sale starting in the $600,000 - $800,000 range (ocean-side, at least). That's pretty gutsy (there's another word for it, actually). Whether or not they could ever command those prices (especially on leased land) is an open question.

More: Report from East Pier Meeting - By Jimbo, The Hubster: Thoughts on Eastie and beyond