(Washington, DC) Mayor Adrian M. Fenty today named Parcel 42 Partners as the District’s development partner to build a $32 million mixed-use, affordable housing project on District-owned land on the corner of 7th Street and Rhode Island Avenue in the Shaw neighborhood.

“This project is a true testament to what can be accomplished when you work closely with the community,” said Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. “There is a huge demand in Shaw—like many neighborhoods across the District—for affordable housing and this project helps meet the community’s needs.”

Parcel 42 Partners consists of Metamorphosis Development Group, Metro Partners, and Sunrise Development Corp., which is led by Joseph Horning. The developers proposed building 112 apartments—all of them will be rented to residents earning less than 60 percent of the Area’s Medium Income, which is about $90,000 for a family of four. The project will also include 8,000 square feet of retail space, 64 underground parking spaces and a 4,800-square-foot community facility.

Parcel 42 Partners competed with several other teams for the right to develop the site. The team was chosen based on a series of criteria including the developers’ experience, financial capacity, development program, design excellence, community benefits and Local, Small and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (LSDBE) participation. Under the District economic development policies, at least 35 percent of the contracts generated by the project must go to LSDBE-certified firms and at least 51 percent of the new jobs created by the project will go to District residents.

The project is expected to generate almost 70 construction jobs and more than 20 full-time jobs.

The District, led by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED), will negotiate an Exclusive Rights Agreement with the development team during the next 90 days and the project is on track to break ground during the summer of 2009.