Mayor Adrian Fenty announced the signing of a deal yesterday that will bring Radio One, the largest African American radio broadcaster, back to D.C. ten years after it moved to Lanham, Maryland.

The city has agreed to put up $22 million in grants and incentives to build the new Radio One headquarters, to be called Broadcast Center One, above the Shaw-Howard University Metro stop at 7th and S Street NW. The total cost of the project, which will also include retail and affordable housing units, is estimated at $144 million. Construction is expected to break ground in April and be completed by late 2010. Radio One founder Cathy Hughes is pictured at right.

Opposition to the deal, which has been several years in the making, initially centered around the amount of city funding and objections from historic preservationists in the Shaw neighborhood. Eventually the company was able to come to agreements with the city to make the new development a source of renewal for Shaw, by providing reduced rents for small businesses, scholarships to Howard University students and help in funding the restoration of the historic Howard Theater, which is next door.