The New Haven skyline. (Courtesy Photo / Public Domain / Charles Barneby)

The owner of a strip club at the center of a battle to convert a former New Haven factory into affordable housing has proposed closing his current operation and opening a new, “Vegas-style” strip club and steakhouse elsewhere in the Mill River neighborhood.

Peter Forchetti, owner of the Scores strip club in the Clock Shop Lofts complex has agreed to close his club to enable developer Josh Blevins to convert the building into 130 units of affordable housing after a long legal battle, the New Haven Independent reported. Now, Forchetti is proposing an “adult-themed” venue at 203 Wallace St., a derelict building a block away from his current business.

The Mill River neighborhood lies between Wooster Square, which has attracted significant attention from multifamily developers in recent years, and the working-class Fair Haven neighborhood.