A development team has proposed a 242-unit apartment redevelopment on two Shelton Avenue properties in New Haven, including the conversion of a historic former Winchester Repeating Arms factory building and construction of two new apartment buildings.
The applicant, Elm City Lofts LLC, is controlled by Aaron Greenblatt, a managing principal and counsel at Simsbury-based multifamily developer Vesta Corp., an active affordable housing developer in Connecticut. The project is planned for properties at 71 Shelton Ave. and 89/91 Shelton Ave. in the city’s Newhallville neighborhood.
The properties are owned by SZV Development LLC and New Haven Success Center LLC, according to application materials submitted to the city.
The proposal includes three residential buildings. A five-story, roughly 148,000-square-foot former Winchester factory building dating to about 1915 would be renovated into 98 apartments with a community room.
Two new buildings are also planned. One, called “Lofts on the Avenue,” would be a four-story, 76,800-square-foot building with 60 apartments and about 2,150 square feet of retail space. The other, “Lofts at the Greenway,” would be a five-story, 106,325-square-foot building with 84 apartments.
The development — scheduled for site plan review at the New Haven City Plan Commission’s May 20 meeting — would include studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, along with nearly 68,900 square feet of open space and 265 parking spaces.
According to the application, all apartments would be leased to households earning 60% or less of area median income, with 58 units reserved for households earning 50% or less of area median income under the city’s inclusionary zoning ordinance.
The retail component could include food specialty stores or restaurants. The applicant has filed a separate special exception application with the Board of Zoning Appeals seeking approval for those uses.
The proposal also includes environmental remediation work. The application says the former Winchester property was previously designated a Transfer Act site and requires cleanup to allow residential use.
The city has received conditional approval for a $6 million state brownfields grant from the Department of Economic and Community Development to support remediation work at the Shelton Avenue properties, according to the application.
Pending city approvals, construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2027 and conclude in the first quarter of 2029, according to the filing.
