Negotiations for a brewery on Bowdoin Street – the first of its kind in Dorchester – have fallen through.

The Dorchester Brewing Company, which planned to open a $1.7 million contract brewery at 181 Bowdoin Street next summer, was unable to work out lease terms with the building’s current owner, the CDC of Boston, both sides told the Reporter.

“The CDC of Boston, which is the property owner, decided for a handful of reasons that a project with us as a tenant did not make financial sense for them,” said the brewing company’s founder, Travis Lee.

The CDC’s board, for its part, did not feel the return on investment would be great enough for the building, which the nonprofit purchased two years ago, and which would have to be renovated for the brewery to lease. “Fiduciarily, it did not make sense to invest nearly $2 million of our liquid assets,” said James Dilday, interim president of the CDC.

Lee learned of the CDC’s decision last Friday after almost a year’s worth of negotiation. The company will now scout out other possible locations in its namesake neighborhood. “The hard part for us is that it’s the only building on Bowdoin Street that will work for us. That location was a piece of the mission of the company,” Lee said. “This is part of business, it’s the way it goes. While we’re very disappointed, we look to see the brewery happen somewhere else.”

In a related development, co-founder and Dorchester native Filipe Oliveira left the company last fall to focus on his own business, Percival Brewing Company, which produces Dot Ale.

As to the end of the negotiations, Bowdoin Geneva Main Streets Board President Yvonne Ruggles said she was “deeply disappointed that this project, which enjoyed universal support in the community, will not be moving forward in our neighborhood. Our concern now rests with the CDC of Boston, its intention for the property, and criteria for vetting proposals. 181 Bowdoin Street has been vacant for decades, and we hope they have a viable plan for future development rather than choosing to allow the property to remain fallow.”

Dilday said that in addition to more community meetings, the CDC will next commission a study to find the best use for the Bowdoin Street building. “We’re going to make that building beneficial to the neighborhood,” he said.