A 200-space Munson Street parking lot could be the site of New Haven’s next biotech lab building — according to a Winchester-factory-redevelopment zoning update that received a favorable, if still skeptical, recommendation from the City Plan Commission. The vote was in support of a request submitted by the redevelopment team behind the so-called “Winchester Center” project in Science Park. The proposal gained a vote of support Wednesday night alongside a few other changes to the self-described neighborhood reinvestment project. The requested PDD update now heads to the full Board of Alders for further review and a potential final vote. Twining Properties founder Alex Twining, whose company is one of the lead co-developers of the “Winchester Center” project, pitched the PDD expansion and amendments on Wednesday as part of the “making of a neighborhood place” that would see the “replacement of parking lots with places to work and live.” Walter Esdaile, the managing director of the New Haven Regional Contractors Alliance, complimented the developers’ commitment to engaging minorities and local businesses in the development of Science Park. Esdaile said the developers have agreed to participate in city programs to hire both minority-owned conrtactors while also helping with a student contractor program operating out of 30 different New Haven schools.
https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/pdd