Elected officials from Metro and Washington County joined other project partners on Sept. 6, 2024 to celebrate the opening of Plaza Los Amigos, a new affordable housing community co-developed by REACH Community Development and Bienestar. Plaza Los Amigos brings 113 one- to three-bedroom apartments to Cornelius. Washington County leveraged $13.6 million in Metro affordable housing bond funding for the project’s construction, which is more than a quarter of the total development cost.
Plaza Los Amigos’ apartments are available to households earning less than 30% to 60% of the area median income, and the majority of its homes are suited for families and larger households. Seventy-three apartments have two or three bedrooms, with rent for two-bedroom apartments starting at $701.
Project partners commemorate the grand opening of Plaza Los Amigos with a ribbon cutting.
At the grand opening celebration, project partners emphasized the importance of increasing the supply of affordable housing in Cornelius, a city defined by its rich agricultural history and Latine community.
“The project’s name and identity acknowledge the history of farmworkers and Latinos in Washington County and was inspired by ‘Los Amigos Club,’ a mutual aid association that supported migrant workers in the 60s and 70s,” Bienestar Executive Director Nathan Teske said in a press release.
Since the 1960s, many farmworkers and their families have settled in Washington County; however, rapidly rising housing costs have forced people to move farther away from their places of work and communities in recent years. Plaza Los Amigos and other affordable housing developments play a key part in ensuring that households with low incomes can continue to establish deep roots in Cornelius.
Metro Councilor Juan Carlos González, who spent his youth in Cornelius, reflected on the impact of creating more workforce housing in the area.
“Construction workers live here, landscapers work here, people that serve all of our industries work here,” he said. “And this has been historically a working class, low-income neighborhood. We're making sure that people are going to continue to be able to live here and to call this place home.”
Situated on a 3-acre site, Plaza Los Amigos consists of a four-story residential building, a covered multi-sport court and a playground. Directly behind the building is the newly improved Council Creek regional trail, a nature path for biking and walking. A Fred Meyer grocery store is located just a few steps from Plaza Los Amigos, and a nearby high-frequency bus provides public transit access.
In Plaza Los Amigos’ all-sport court, residents can play futsal (a type of indoor soccer), recreate and host community events.
Plaza Los Amigos’ opening follows Nueva Esperanza, another Bienestar development in Hillsboro that celebrated its opening in May. The Metro bond also helped fund the construction of the Valfre at Avenida 26, an affordable apartment complex in nearby Forest Grove. With the bond’s support, these housing developments have added nearly 300 affordable homes to western Washington County.