The Miami-based company that has proposed a $75 million development on a former industrial site in Portland’s Bayside neighborhood says it will withdraw the entire “midtown” project unless the city’s Planning Board approves it at a meeting on Jan. 27.

Jonathan Cox, founder and chairman of the The Federated Companies, said in a telephone interview that his company is unwilling to wait any longer.

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This ecomaine recycling location is the site of midtown’s first phase on Somerset Street between Pearl and Chestnut streets. Press Herald file photo

“We want to make it abundantly clear to everyone that this is it,” Cox said. “If the Planning Board isn’t prepared to vote on Jan. 27, then we will withdraw. We have come to the realization that it’s just not possible to take this project past the end of January.”

Cox made his comments Monday, the day before the Planning Board hosts a workshop and public hearing at which it will consider a new site plan and subdivision for midtown – a huge residential and retail development that would be built on 3.5 acres of land bordered by Somerset, Chestnut and Elm streets.

Tuesday’s workshop is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. in Portland City Hall, but the meeting could run late into the evening. The board has scheduled a dinner break, with the workshop due to resume at 7:30 p.m.

According to the Planning Board’s website, The Federated Companies’ original midtown proposal, which called for construction of four 14-story apartment buildings on the site, was approved by the Planning Board on Jan. 14, 2014.

Following that approval, a group called Keep Portland Livable filed a lawsuit challenging the city’s decision. A settlement was reached between Federated and the plaintiff that resulted in significant changes to the original development plan. Those changes have been incorporated into the plan that the board will review Tuesday night.

The new design reduces the maximum residential height from 165 to 72 feet, and the overall number of residential units has been cut from 650 to 445. Another level would be added to the 700-space parking garage, bringing the total number of spaces to 828. There would be retail uses on the first floor of all the buildings, an element that has not changed since the original project plans were filed.

Peter Monro, the co-founder of Keep Portland Livable, said a Superior Court judge Friday granted his group’s request for a stay order, which means the group’s lawsuit against The Federated Companies remains on file with the courts but can not be activated until March 16.

Monro said the stay order preserves Keep Portland Livable’s right to challenge the project in court.

Keep Portland Livable opposed the 14-story buildings because the group said it would have “walled off” Portland’s peninsula and overwhelmed the Bayside neighborhood.

Keep Portland Livable finds the current midtown project design acceptable, Munro said. The scaled-down version calls for the construction of four six-story buildings on the same site in Bayside.

“We’ve agreed to stop punching (Federated) in the mouth for now,” Monro said.

Cox said he is hopeful the Planning Board will approve his firm’s redesigned plans for midtown. He said The Federated Companies, which first proposed midtown five years ago, can’t afford to wait any longer for city approval.

“We have taken the position that there is zero chance that this project should go beyond Jan. 27,” Cox said. “It has been five years. We are frustrated, to say the least.”

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