The development team behind a plan to construct some 650 housing units on 95 acres in Concord has grown by one partner and taken an option to purchase 40 more acres of abutting property.

The proposed Monitor Way development – near the Concord Monitor building on land owned by Newspapers of New England, the Monitor’s parent company – is a mixed-use plan, featuring commercial, retail as well as apartments and townhomes.

The developers said they are “studying different potential uses” for the additional 40 acres, but provided no specifics.

The 40-acre property is owned by the Concord Regional Solid Waste Cooperative, a group of municipalities that built the nearby Wheelabrator trash-to-energy power plant.

Meanwhile, the development team, which includes Kevin Lacasse, CEO of New England Family Housing and Dean Navaroli, principal of the Hollis-based commercial real estate firm of William & Reeves, also has taken on a new partner – Mike Dion, founder of Metro Walls, the Manchester-based regional framing and drywall company who recently sold the firm to its employees through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. He continues to serve as Metro Walls’ chair.

“We’re excited to have Mike join the Monitor Way development team,” Lacasse said. “With his 30-plus years of construction experience and resources, having been involved in the creation of thousands of housing units over the years, Mike is the one of the best-known leaders in the New Hampshire construction industry, yet a secret asset as a developer.”

Dion and Navaroli have previously partnered on a number of commercial and multifamily residential development projects in Bedford, Epping and Londonderry. Dion is also developing single-family and multifamily housing projects in Laconia.

According to a press release issued by the developers, in total the three partners have ownership in properties that totals about $180 million, have structured financing for a combined $160 million worth of real estate and been involved in over $1 billion worth of construction, including the creation of nearly 11,000 housing units.