Image courtesy of Elkus Manfredi Architects

New Haven’s Board of Alders gave critical backing to zoning changes that will enable the construction of the city’s next big biotech real estate project downtown.

Winstanley Enterprises wants to build a $100 million new lab tower over the Oak Street Connector at 101 College St. The building will be between 350,000 square feet and 550,000 square feet, and have up to 175 parking spaces plus a deal for up to 550 spaces at nearby city-owned garages. The Yale School of Medicine will be a core tenant, but the building will also include incubator space and will rent square footage to “mature” life science firms.

Winstanley successfully developed the 100 College St. tower next door.

The alders also approved a key land deal allowing Winstanley to develop the city-owned site, the New Haven Independent reports. As part of the deal, Winstanley will also pay the city up to $200,000 to help reopen a section of Columbus Avenue on the site of the former Tower Lane housing development nearby.

The project now heads to site plan review before the City Planning Commission. City officials hope the project will not only knit downtown and the Hill-to-Downtown neighborhood – site of New Haven’s MetroNorth train station – together but will also provide space to help the city’s life science startups to grow instead of leaving town for Boston or New York City.