Image courtesy of Lessard Design

A nearly-400-unit multifamily development planned next to New Haven’s Winchester Works biotech cluster could be advancing after a California real estate investment firm loaned its developers $78 million.

The Ironburgh Organization’s 201 Munson St. project includes 371 apartments and 21 townhomes on a contaminated former factory site north of downtown New Haven, abutting the popular Farmington Canal bicycle trail. The New York City developer received city approval for the project in 2019 and bought the 12.7-acre property for $8 million last year from a group of earlier investors.

The mortgage from Acore Capital closed on May 10, according to public records.

Ironburgh principal Jeffrey Chung told the New Haven Independent that the Acore loan will enable his company to finish remediating soil contamination on the site and start construction soon.

The news comes as city planning officials gave their nod to a plan from Twining Properties, L&M Development Partners and Goldman Sachs to add a new building with 287 new apartments over retail space in place of what’s currently parking lots at the Winchester Works site a block from Ironburgh’s project. The mixed-use development contains largely residential units and life sciences space, to which the development team hopes to add 950 apartments over the next few years.