An announcement by The Monument Companies last week that they intend to walk away from a proposed project at the old Golden Peanut site on the southern end of Downtown Suffolk is another stroke of bad news for an area that has been desperate for a while for a streak of good luck.

The company had proposed to redevelop the former industrial site into a mixed-use project featuring as many as 300 loft apartments, along with retail and commercial spaces. In December, the Suffolk Planning Commission gave the project its seal of approval, and City Council was to have considered it during its January meeting.

But company officials notified the city late in December that they were pulling out of the project because of their concerns about the future of the commonwealth’s historic tax credits program. Monument relies on those credits to help finance the work it does to revitalize and redevelop properties. The credits, for example, were important pieces of the financing packages for Monument projects on both East Washington Street and West Washington Street. And Virginia legislators have telegraphed an uncertain future for the tax credits.

The company had spent about $50,000 on the early design stages of the project and in pitching it to city officials. Monument had estimated a total investment of about $30 million by the time the project was complete.

The good news is that Suffolk’s always-positive director of economic development, Kevin Hughes, says there are other parties that have expressed interest in the site and that his office will try to reconnect with those parties for a different project.

We sincerely hope this effort bears fruit. Redevelopment of the 10-acre Golden Peanut site could be a linchpin to the future of Downtown Suffolk. It could truly be a catalyst for a rejuvenated business district.