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GREENSBORO — The Great Recession continues to play havoc with a proposed $42 million , mixed-use project that would have been one of the biggest ever erected downtown.

“It is not going to be built as it was previously envisioned,” said Chester Brown III , president of Brown Investment Properties, one of two developers involved in the project. “Right now is not a good time to do anything.”

Last year, Brown and his development partner, John Kavanagh, put the project on hold because of their inability to secure financing.

Now, they have opted to put the 8.3-acre tract up for sale.

They’re asking $4.6 million for the land, which could be sold in two parcels.

Brown stressed that he and Kavanagh could still develop the land, which includes the old Pet Dairy property on Summit Avenue and the former Galloway/Flow Buick-Isuzu dealership at Lindsay Street and Murrow Boulevard .

“We’re looking at all alternatives,” Brown said Friday . “It could be a land sale or redevelopment. What was previously proposed is not feasible right now.”

As originally conceived, Murrow Station would have included 132 condos, 60 town houses, and 19,000 square feet of office space scattered over 14 buildings.

The project would have created 167 new jobs and brought hundreds of new residents downtown.

“It’s certainly disappointing,” Ed Wolverton , president and CEO of Downtown Greensboro Inc. , said of the developers’ decision. “But I am hopeful that as the economic recovery moves forward, a new project will emerge.”

Brown said five prospective buyers “are looking at the land and figuring out what could go on it.”

Asked why he and Brown would consider selling the land, Kavanagh called it a nonproductive asset.

“It’s not a good time to hold anything,” Kavanagh said of the land. “We both need money for other things.”

Kavanagh and Brown own the Pet property, a 2.1-acre plot on the market for $820,000 . Flow Motors owns the former car dealership, a 6.2-acre parcel that carries a price tag of $3.8 million .

Brown Investment Properties has listed both parcels.

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com