The Clise family has halted talks to sell 13 acres of downtown Seattle property to a Dubai-based developer, the Wall Street Journal reported online.

Alfred Clise, CEO of Clise Properties, told the Journal that "all the moons were aligned" to sell the prime tract for a massive coordinated development project, "and then we lost that environment."

The Journal identified Emaar Properties of Dubai as the would-be buyer, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

Clise plans to put the property back on the market when the real estate climate improves, said the Journal.

The Denny Triangle tract has the capacity for 13 million square feet of development over seven full blocks and six partial blocks. It stretches north of downtown's retail district to Denny Way and Interstate 5. Parking lots and low-rise buildings occupy the bulk of the land now.

"It's a very unique assemblage of real estate that probably doesn't exist anywhere else in the country," Clise told the Seattle Times last June, when he put the property on the market. "We have been chewing on this for over a year now, and we think the time is right."