The owner of this Howe Street gas station near downtown New Haven has proposed demolishing his business and building 44 market-rate apartment units in its place. Image courtesy of the city of New Haven.

The owner of a money-losing downtown New Haven gas station is planning to build 44 apartments on the 0.32-acre site.

To compensate for his lack of prior development experience, Murad “Mike” Charania has hired a local architect Ken Borsun to design and help oversee the project at 49 Howe St., the New Haven Independent reports. Neighbors are pressing Charania to include some affordable housing; however, the state has recently reduced funding for a key grant program that would have helped him subsidize the construction of affordable units. The building’s units will be priced as workforce housing for nurses and technicians at the nearby hospitals, the website reports.

The building, near two projects that will bring a combined 100 new units to downtown, will have 28 one-bedroom apartments, six two-bedroom apartments and 10 microunits around 425 square feet each.