One objection against the commercial and retail development was lodged with An Bord Pleanala.
The scheme was given the go-ahead by the planning appeals body last year, after an original decision by the city council was overturned.
A business consortium - named the Catherine Street Partnership - is behind the plans to develop an area along Catherine Street, Glentworth Street and Mallow Street.
Under the proposals five floors of commercial, office and retail space will be constructed. Plans also include the provision for 110 car parking spaces.
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The development would have generated 600 permanent jobs for the city, in addition to 200 during the construction phase.
The sole objector to the development is a local business man, a move upheld by the board over heritage concerns.
A spokesman for the development consortium said: "This is very disappointing news for us and, we believe, for Limerick. This was an important job-generating development project, fully in keeping with the city council’s own ambitions for urban renewal in this part of the city.
"We were extremely diligent with regard to our heritage responsibilities and, even at this stage, feel that we could satisfy An Bord Pleanála and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, on any heritage concerns they may have."
The spokesman stressed that the group did not want the scheme to disappear.
"The technical and design team are reviewing the An Bord Pleanála decision. The hope of the consortium is that the project can be viable and can go-ahead and the mechanisms to achieve that are currently being examined," he added.
A decision on the future of the project will be finalised within the coming weeks.
(PR/JM)
