$115M affordable housing project advancing in Salem

Author
Hilary Dorsey

Date published
March 29, 2023

View Original Article

A $115 million development holding 313 affordable housing units for seniors and families is coming to Salem’s South Gateway neighborhood.

Officials last week held a ceremonial ground-breaking event at the project site, at 5120 Salal St. S.E. Construction began in September 2022.

Mahonia Crossing will include 94 senior apartments and 219 family apartments. Each one will range from 600 to 1,050 square feet and have one, two or three bedrooms. The development will feature a community center and shared outdoor spaces.

Apartments will be open to households earning 30 percent to 80 percent of the area median income. Priority for some units will be given to people who lost homes during wildfires, and priority for others will be given to agricultural workers and their families.

Scott Edwards Architecture designed the project for Community Development Partners (CDP). PLACE is the landscape architect and Gerding Builders is the contractor. EngAGE Northwest will provide on-site resident services and intergenerational programming.

Mahonia Crossing is among the final pieces of local planner/developer John Miller’s master-plan vision for the Woodscape community.

“He owned the land, built his own house there and built a community of other residences, his own nursery and winery,” Community Development Partners CEO Eric Paine said.

Miller sold the 15-acre property to CDP. The community is named after Miller’s development company, Wildwood | Mahonia, and his Mahonia Vineyard and Mahonia Nursery nearby.

Staffers with the Center for Public Interest Design at Portland State University canvassed the neighborhood and broader area to identify existing community assets and amenities and see how Mahonia Crossing could be complementary. Outreach included meetings with community members and organizations, whose input shaped the development’s design and on-site programming.

The project team developed the concept of a community for all ages.

“The concept was providing these two different housing types put together in one community (with) a common community building and intergenerational programming,” Paine said.

Integration of senior housing and developing care is a special opportunity, EngAGE Northwest CEO Tim Carpenter said.

Apartments will face toward the courtyard and the community center. Residential buildings will be connected by tree-lined paths and arranged around a series of shared outdoor spaces, including a garden, an outdoor plaza with amphitheater seating, a park, an open field, and picnic and barbecue areas.

At the heart of the development will be the senior building, which will have 46 apartments and a fitness center open to all residents. Nearby, the community center will hold gathering spaces, a movie/game room, a library, computer stations, and a demonstration kitchen for events and classes.

The community center will feature cross-laminated timber. Plans also call for installation of a rooftop solar array. The project team is following Energy Trust of Oregon’s Path to Net Zero and seeking to achieve net zero certification from the International Living Future Institute. The entire development is designed to Earth Advantage platinum standards.

Mahonia Crossing is being built in two phases. Paine said Phase 1 will cost approximately $73 million and include infrastructure (utilities, etc.), the community center, the senior building and 184 apartments. Phase 2 will cost approximately $42 million and include 129 apartments.

While there will be 46 units designated for seniors in Phase 1, there will be 48 units with ground-level entry for seniors in Phase 2. The senior building will be served by an elevator; family-size apartments will be three-story, walk-up units.

For Phase 1, CDP received state tax credits designed to create housing for agricultural workers. Sixteen units will be reserved for agricultural workers and their families.

Of the units built in Phase 2, 113 will be prioritized for Oregon residents impacted by 2021 wildfires.

Incoming residents are expected to begin moving into Phase 2 units in November and Phase 1 units in December. As people move in, EngAGE Northwest will gather data via focus groups, surveys and its own asset mapping to learn more about residents’ skills, needs and desires. Programs will be geared toward intergenerational learning, wellness and creativity.

Construction is estimated to finish by August 2024.