Boston Globe says buyer of its Dorchester site backs out

A group that agreed last year to buy The Boston Globe’s longtime home on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester has walked away from the deal.

Sean Keohan, chief operating officer at Boston Globe Media Partners, said that the company has been notified that the buyer decided not to go ahead with the transaction. Keohan, citing a nondisclosure pact, declined to name the group that had signed a purchase-and-sale agreement for the 16.5-acre property.

“We’re enthusiastic about exploring other possibilities,” Keohan said.

The Globe reported last summer that Center Court Partners, a development group with executives in Boston and New York, had inked the contract.

Keohan said the decision will have no effect on the Globe’s plans to leave the Dorchester property next month.

The Globe has been transferring printing operations to a new facility in Taunton, a move that should be completed by the end of June. Also next month, more than 500 workers in the editorial, advertising, information technology, and administrative departments will move in waves to 75,000 square feet of leased space in the Exchange Place tower at 53 State St.

John Henry bought the Dorchester property when he acquired the Globe for $70 million in 2013.

A previous deal with Winstanley Enterprises, a Concord-based developer, fell apart in early 2015.