MOSA, Elk Grove’s largest affordable housing development, gets grand opening
Four years in the making, Elk Grove’s largest affordable housing complex officially opened Thursday.
Project developers say the 387-unit MOSA Apartment Homes stretched across 528,000 square feet at 10219 Bruceville Road represents the largest affordable housing investment in California.
“These 1,200 or so families, the people who reside here, the trajectory of their lives will change dramatically in a positive direction because of what we’ve done here today,” said Reese Jarrett, the San Diego-based developer of E. Smith and Co., who teamed with architect and developer Michael Johnson of Urban Core Development on the sprawling project, at a late-morning ceremony at the complex.
Eight three-story and six four-story apartment buildings make up the community along with learning centers, a fitness studio, courtyards and community lounges, recreation and play areas and surface parking. The developers say the Bruceville Road complex will be home to some 1,200 people at full capacity.
Local government, community and faith leaders joined state officials including California State Controller Malia Cohen for the ceremony.
“This is a community that represents not just housing; but for me, it’s a community that represents hope, a community that represents equity; and, most importantly, opportunity,” Cohen said. “Affordable housing is the foundation for everything else we value: education, health, safety, dignity.”
Opportunity not only for MOSA’s residents, but for the project’s Jarrett and Johnson, the first Black developers to helm an affordable housing development in Elk Grove, and for other developers of color across California, Cohen said.
“For far too long, Black developers and Indigenous developers had been shut out of financing and opportunity to build communities that we all deserve to live,” Cohen said. “Representation matters. When we have Black and Indigenous developers, we get developments that reflect the real needs of our communities, not just on paper, but in people’s everyday lives.”
Developers Jarrett and Johnson broke ground on what was then known as Poppy Ridge Apartment Homes in September 2022. Elk Grove City Council approved the project months earlier in May 2022 amid the city’s ongoing affordable housing crisis.
Nearly a year — 270 days — of weather delays extended the project’s timeline, but the project was completed under budget. Jarrett noted the project’s January 2023 groundbreaking, like Thursday’s event, was also a rain-soaked affair.
By 2023, Elk Grove was in the crosshairs of the State of California’s demand for more affordable housing. A state Attorney General’s lawsuit in May 2023 alleged the city violated California housing law for denying the Oak Rose housing project planned for the city’s Old Town. The state and Elk Grove settled the suit in 2024.
But work was underway on the MOSA apartments; while farther north on Bruceville Road, the 294-unit The Lysa apartments would add more affordable inventory.
A new 236-unit project, The Pardes, recently opened at Tarak Drive and Big Horn Boulevard.
Elk Grove Councilmember Rod Brewer represents the neighborhood that is home to the MOSA apartments. He said the development sends a message to residents and state leaders that the city is serious about providing affordable housing for its residents.
“Elk Grove will always be committed to affordable housing,” Brewer said. “We are answering the call to meet the needs of people who need it the most.”
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