Actually, I have seen Jaboticaba do just fine close to the north side of a building, doing multiple heavy crops every year--- as long as nothing is over them to interfere with too much indirect light from the sky.
You may have had a soil problem, or not enough variation in soil moisture to stimulate bloom.
I have a Myrtle-Apricot, a.k.a. "Pitomba-da-Bahia," Eugenia luschnanthiana, very close to the north side of my house which fruited OK when it was short, but now fruits much more now that it is taller than the house, up in full sun.