'Shortage of housing,' Grand View Village opens in downtown Stockton

Stockton residents recently moved into Grand View Village.

The new 75 unit building at 240 E. Miner Ave. opened early February. It's a project by Visionary Home Builders of California, Inc., a non-profit developer in the Central Valley.

"Very early on, we started our mission of developing affordable housing with our educational component attached to our housing," said Carol Ornelas, Visionary Home Builders president. "That has been our mission for over 40 years."

The project began in 2017, she said.

The apartment complex offers a Head Start Program, a Montessori school, complimentary bus passes to the residents and in the near future a grocery store too.

Ornelas said the grocery store will be public and open to the rest of the community. It's expected to open in 2025.

"On our first floor, we are going to have a grocery store. That's sells healthy food," Ornelas said. "Because downtown is a food desert, we want to bring healthy food into the area."

Visionary Home Builders' Grand View Village, seen here at Miner Avenue and Hunter Street in downtown Stockton on Feb. 22, 2024, is nearing completion. The projects is slated to provide 75 affordable housing units for households earning between 30% and 80% of Area Median Income. It will feature energy efficient appliances, 10,000 square feet of commercial and community space for a grocery store.

Already the complex is fully occupied and applications are no longer being accepted.

"We are moving in our last tenants this weekend... It's very sad, the need that our community has," Ornelas said. "Seven days into taking applications we had 1,049 applications for 75 units. That really tells you a lot about the shortage of housing."

Applicants were approved through a "resident selection plan," in order to comply with fair housing, Ornelas said.

“This housing opportunity has been such a blessing... it’s giving me the ability to save money on gas since I’ll be walking distance to work and a short drive to my son’s school," stated Josyln, a Grand View Village resident. "It’s also giving me the opportunity to enjoy a lot of the local restaurants and businesses since now they will be a short walk from my community."

Visionary Home Builders of California partnered with JP Morgan Chase and Redstone among others to fund and support the project.

There are one, two and three bedroom apartments for households earning between 30% and 80% of Area Median Income (AMI), Visionary Home Builders of California, Inc. website states. Ornelas added that the project is not a Section 8 project, to the contrary of what many believe it to be and residents need to be able to afford the rent.

Visionary Home Builders' Grand View Village, seen here at Miner Avenue and Hunter Street in downtown Stockton on Feb. 22, 2024, is nearing completion. The projects is slated to provide 75 affordable housing units for households earning between 30% and 80% of Area Median Income. It will feature energy efficient appliances, 10,000 square feet of commercial and community space for a grocery store.

Ornelas said there is a new 90 unit project they plan to start working on this year just blocks away from Grand View Village, called "La Passeggiata," that they have received funding for.

"This is on state land. We were one of the first organizations to receive state land when the governor pass an order that any excess land out there that the state owns should go to building housing for people," she said.

"La Passeggiata will be the first modular multi-family project in downtown Stockton," Visionary Home Builders of California state on their website. "This community will feature 1, 2 and 3 bedroom units with energy efficient appliances, rooftop gardens, and solar photovoltaic systems for seniors and families."

Ornelas said they plan on having a grand opening in May for Grand View Village.

"There's a lot of partners in here and kudos to all of those that had faith in us, and also, gave us this opportunity to help begin the transformation of downtown," Ornelas said. "There's been street transformation, big office buildings, but this is probably one of the largest housing communities to be built in the downtown area."

Record reporter Angelaydet Rocha covers community news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at arocha@recordnet.com or on Twitter @AngelaydetRocha. To support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Grand View Village Stockton