Image courtesy of Stantec and Dream Collaborative

A diverse development team will lead the 329,000-square-foot development of a 2-acre city-owned parking lot in Roxbury’s Nubian Square into a new retail and cultural hub.

Nubian Ascends Partners proposes a ground-floor artisan marketplace, cultural hall and theater, a food hall with products from an on-site culinary arts program and a floor of subsidized commercial space for local businesses. Plans also include 15 artist live-work housing units and a 5,500-square-foot art studio. The ground floor would be capped with 135,000 square feet of office space over five floors, which the developers plan to finance separate from city or state subsidies and which will be used to finance the rest of the project.

The Roxbury Strategic Master Plan Oversight Committee voted unanimously Dec. 7 to support the proposal, which is estimated to generate 900 jobs in the neighborhood.

The all-minority-owned development team plans an aggressive diversity and inclusion plan for all stages of the project, including a collaboration between architect Stantec and the minority-owned Dream Collaborative.

The Boston Planning & Development Agency’s directors on Thursday approved the tentative designation of Nubian Ascends Partners, clearing the way for the team to begin preparing its formal submission.

The partnership includes developer Richard Taylor, the director of Suffolk University’s Center for Real Estate, Kai and Chris Grant of Roxbury economic development group Black Market, and Mario San Jacinto of Almiranta Capital LLC. The development team also includes Stantec and DREAM Collaborative, Consigli Construction, UHM Properties for operations and brokerage Newmark Knight Frank.