NEW YORK-Stanford University broke the news in a statement today that it will bow out of the race to construct a new applied sciences and engineering campus on New York City’s Roosevelt Island. Earlier this year, GlobeSt.com covered the institution’s burgeoning interest in the project, but today an official release confirmed Stanford is out.

According to the statement, officials and other university figures determined that it was not “in their best interests” to move forward with the initiative. “We were looking forward to an innovative partnership with the city of New York,” Stanford president John Hennessey said in the statement. “We are sorry that together we could not find a way to realize our mutual goals.”

Hennessey further explained that Stanford was not certain it could see the project through in a way that would make the campus to be a guaranteed success.