Mirasol Village housing community celebrates grand opening in Sacramento's River District
SHRA Executive Director LaShelle Dozier (yellow dress and flower) joins state and local partners in cutting the ribbon on Mirasol Village
Sacramento, CA (May 31, 2023) - Mayor Darrell Steinberg and other community leaders gathered Wednesday in the River District to celebrate the grand opening of Mirasol Village, an amenity-rich, mixed-income community that replaces the 1940s-era Dos Rios public housing development.
The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency has been working with city, county, state and federal partners for more than a decade to secure the $300 million needed to build Mirasol Village and the accompanying streets, sidewalks, bike lanes, electric chargers and light rail station that will make it a sustainable development that reduces the city’s overall carbon footprint. To build the project, it partnered with housing developer McCormack Baron Salazar.
Two phases of the community at 1200 Richards Blvd. have already been opened to tenants, and construction on the final two residential buildings is underway. Located near the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers, Mirasol will have 427 new affordable, workforce, and market-rate units on 22 acres. They replace 218 public housing units built in the 1940s. All of the tenants were relocated during construction and many have moved back into the new project.
Resident Brittney Threets talks about what she has gained by living at Mirasol Village
The rental mix at Mirasol includes apartments ranging from one to five bedrooms. Residents will have access to a pool, a 1.2-acre public park, a community garden and learning center, playgrounds, bicycles, a dog park, a fitness center, and a child education center. Urban Strategies Inc. was hired by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency to provide intensive case management and facilitate resident engagement.
Brittney Threets has transformed her life since moving into a new apartment at Mirasol with her children. During construction, she got a job working on the site and said she was certified in various trades. She is teaching Zumba, leading the residents’ walking group and is studying to become an electrician. Threets received a standing ovation Wednesday after sharing how she went from depending on welfare to pursuing a career in the trades.
“I was living in poverty with that mindset, and I thought that’s who I was, and it wasn’t,” Threets said. “I will, I am, you see me, I’m making it.”
The old Dos Rios public housing project was isolated by railroad tracks, industrial parcels and freeways, but it is quickly becoming part of the urban fabric as the River District develops with housing and new state office buildings. Earlier this month, the developers of Township 9 broke ground on 372 new market-rate apartments.
.The central city has added 4,201 housing units since 2018 with another 2,160 under construction.
