The land is on Irmo St and was bought by Irmo Properties Ltd director Grant Chirnside in 2008.
He planned to restore the rundown iron roller mill building and develop the area into a 4900sqm retail complex with 187 car parks.
The development was to provide a mix of bulk and specialist retailers, but required resource consent because the land was zoned for light industrial use.
Mr Chirnside said resource consent for the development was approved by the Dunedin City Council, but he did not pursue the development because the resource consent had since lapsed.
''It's off the table now.''
He declined to specify what had prompted him to give up on the project.
''There's always a whole number of considerations that go into these sorts of things.''
Mr Chirnside said he remained committed to developing Dunedin.
He has been involved in the development of many Dunedin properties, including the Roslyn Fresh Choice supermarket, the Noel Leeming store, the Contact Energy call centre and the Harvey Norman retail and commercial office complex in Dunedin.
He said the Irmo St site in Green Island was now for sale, lease or redevelopment.
In a bid to speed the process up, he had elected to demolish the buildings on site to give potential buyers or leasers a clean slate.
''We've had some expressions of interest from parties, but at this stage, nothing has been confirmed.''
He said the demolition of buildings on the property was expected to be completed in June.
