Harvest Development has withdrawn its plan to develop a retirement community in Scarborough, citing difficult economic times.

The development group from Oregon informed Scarborough officials on Dec. 1 through a letter from Westbrook engineering firm Sebago Technics that it was pulling the project after nearly a year of planning.

“Current economic and market conditions have caused Harvest Development to carefully re-evaluate each of their pending projects,” wrote Sebago Technics project manager Owens McCullough in the letter to Scarborough. “As a result, the applicant has made a business decision to not pursue the Scarborough project.”

The decision came two days before town councilors were to listen to a second round of public hearings regarding the proposed 65-acre project on Elmwood Avenue. The proposal included 118 apartments in the main building, which would have been built in the initial phase, and 10 cottages to be built in a second phase. The project would have offered assisted-living services and full health care.

“They are a national company and they indicated to us that they are not moving forward with half or more of their national projects,” Scarborough Town Planner Dan Bacon said.

Harvest Development did not return phone calls to The Current seeking comment.

The proposed community was partly in a residential zone and partly in a resource protection zone, meaning the town would have had to amend the residential zoning to permit development.

Had councilors approved the contract zone, the plan would have gone back to the Scarborough Planning Board for final approval.

“I was a little surprised they pulled out,” McCullough said on Monday. “They ultimately did what they thought was best for them.”

McCullough said Harvest didn’t indicate to him whether it would pursue the project again.

Harvest is not the only company to halt local projects for economic reasons.

In Cape Elizabeth, Town Planner Maureen O’Meara said Joel FitzPatrick has put a 46-unit senior living center on hold.

“He’s still moving forward with it, but he’s waiting for the economy to improve before deciding to move ahead,” O’Meara said.

Windham developer Peter Busque is postponing several development projects because of the stricken economy and lack of buyers.

Among them is a 116-lot development on Boundary Road in Standish, called Wildlands, that was approved a year and a half ago. Busque has built the road for the first 30 lots, but is holding off on construction.

“I’m waiting for Obama’s change to come,” said Busque, who noted the market started to slow last spring.

Busque is also holding off on an approved 15-lot development at the corner of Route 202 and River Road in Windham as well as a possible 135 units of senior housing on land he owns in Raymond.

Busque said he hasn’t seen the market this bad in 20 years, adding that everything is pretty much on hold at the moment.

“I think things are going to look up in the spring,” he said.

Harvest Development’s proposal was at times controversial. Neighbors worried that about its size, building heights and impact on local traffic.

Harvest’s decision to pull out was purely financial, Bacon said.