The MBTA has chosen a development team to build a mixed-use project on what is now an underused parking lot next to Mattapan Station. The decision sets in motion an important new housing start in one of the few Boston neighborhoods that has been relatively untouched by the city's unprecedented building boom.

The winning proposal was put forward by Boston-based Preservation of Affordable Housing Inc. (POAH) and backed by Roxbury’s Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation. The POAH-Nuestra partnership beat out another proposal by Trinity Financial Inc., which was the only other bidder for the parcels along River Street. An MBTA spokesperson said that the POAH-Nuestra bid offered more money for the land. The minimum bid in the state-issued Request for Proposals was $1.5 million.

The preferred proposal will include a retail component along River Street, with an estimated 10,000 square feet of commercial space. The 135 units of housing would include a mix of apartments and condos in two buildings. Fifty-two percent of the units would be marketed as “affordable,” targeting residents who are 60 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) or lower, according to a copy of the plan reviewed by the Reporter.

A proposal led by Boston-based Preservation of Affordable Housing Inc. (POAH) and backed by Roxbury’s Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation offers fewer housing units than the Trinity-Codman plan, but more than doubles the retail component along River Street, with an estimated 10,000 square feet of commercial space. The 135 units of housing would include a mix of apartments and condos in two buildings. Fifty-two percent of the units would be marketed as “affordable,” targeting residents who are 60 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) or lower.

Nuestra Comunidad is a non-profit development corporation to redevelop currently working to re-use the former Bartlett bus yard near Dudley Square in Roxbury, a $170 million effort that will eventually house 323 units of housing and more than 52,000 square feet of commercial space, along with a charter school.

Joe Pesaturo, a spokesman for the MBTA, said today that the designation is now official.

"The next step is to have a public meeting at which their plans will be presented to the community," Pesaturo said in an email. "That meeting is expected to be scheduled within next 30 days. The meeting is followed by the start the City's permitting process."