Life science real estate may be struggling nation-wide thanks to a slowdown in new funding for biotech startups tied to high interest rates, but that’s not stopping one New Haven developer.

Yves-George Joseph, the principal of RJ Development + Advisors, recently received approval from New Haven’s City Plan Commission to build a 47,000-square-foot medical office building on Legion Avenue on what’s currently a parking lot left over from a failed midcentury highway-building attempt.

The block a short walk from the Yale new Haven Medical Center is also home to the city’s new Cambria Hotel – also developed by RJ Development – a large parking garage, a social services agency, additional parking lots and two retail properties.

According to The New Haven Independent, Joseph told commissioners during the March 20 hearing that he expects to lease the building to life science researchers, not doctors.