Architect's rendering of Mission Heritage Plaza / Gonzalez Goodale Architects

Wakeland Wins Funding from Innovative Program

by Wakeland Staff
July 1, 2019

​RIVERSIDE, Calif. - An innovative collaboration in downtown Riverside that will create energy-efficient affordable housing, a new downtown transit hub and new bicycle paths is the first project in the city to be awarded funding from a leading-edge State of California program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
 
The highly-competitive Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) program has granted $16.8 million to the Mission Heritage Plaza project, which will integrate affordable housing, green transportation/transit improvements, and neighborhood-driven beautification projects in the heart of Riverside. It is the result of a partnership between the City of Riverside, the Riverside Transit Agency (RTA), nonprofit affordable housing developer Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation and the Fair Housing Council of Riverside County.
 
When all phases of the project are complete, people in Riverside will benefit from several new community and transportation resources including:
 
  • A multi-modal transit hub which links bus lines for RTA and Metrolink in one convenient location in downtown Riverside on Vine Street;
  • Two miles of new bike lanes and bike path striping;
  • Neighborhood-driven beautification projects that will pave blighted alleyways and paint murals by local artists;
  • And a mixed-use development that will bring new resources to downtown Riverside, including 71 affordable homes for low-income families and disabled homeless veterans, new offices for the Fair Housing Council of Riverside County and the region’s first Civil Rights Institute.
 
The AHSC program supports programs and projects throughout the State of California that encourage walking, bicycling and use of public transportation in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Since the program started in 2014, it has awarded $1 billion in loans and grants to more than 100 projects, which are estimated to have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 1.6 million tons.
 
Mission Heritage Plaza is only the third Riverside County project funded by the AHSC program, which gave an award this year to a project in Coachella Valley and previously granted funds to March Veterans Village, located just east of Riverside on March Air Reserve Base.