A group that was poised to purchase the ailing Lake Highlands Plaza — The Retail Connection — just couldn’t pull it off, says David Wilson president of the company’s Connected Development Services.  “We loved the idea and the support we received from the neighborhood and we really wanted it to happen,” he says, but investors in this economic climate are opting for projects that are “straight up the fairway, rather than situations that require major redevelopment and the like.”

Too risky? “Yes,” he says.

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Several weeks ago, a spokesman from Lake Highlands United Methodist Church, which also planned to bid on the property, said that there were two other bidders besides the church, one of which was apparently the Retail Connection.  Now, Wilson says, the Retail Connection is out of the equation.

Based on what Wilson told us, the property doesn’t look good for investors and developers, but he says nothing’s out of the question. “I wouldn’t say someone else couldn’t come in and make it happen, but we just couldn’t figure it out.”