Mercy Housing breaks ground on Kent Multicultural Village
Published 1:59 pm Thursday, March 19, 2026
Mercy Housing Northwest and Open Doors for Multicultural Families joined Sound Transit to break ground on the 233-unit Kent Multicultural Village affordable housing project.
Other partners and elected officials participated in the March 18 event to kick off construction for the housing, learning center, community, office and commercial space that will go up in the 23600 block of Pacific Highway South between the highway and the Kent Des Moines light rail station that opened in December 2025.
The target for construction completion is summer 2028, according to Mercy Housing. The total cost for the project is approximately $173 million.
“Sound Transit’s investments across the region simply would not be possible without the collaboration of our partners,” said Marshall Foster, Sound Transit chief planning and development officer. “As an agency, our commitment is to connect more people to more places throughout the region, and when we get to break ground on new housing that will help people live not just near transit, but directly adjacent to it, we are leveling up on that commitment. This project shows how we’re not just working together to build homes or transit, but communities, and greater access to opportunity.”
Mercy Housing will offer units to residents earning between 30% and 60% of the area’s median income. In 2025, King County had an area median income of $124,746, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
A total of 20% of the units will be set aside for the intellectual and developmental disability community, according to Mercy Housing.
Sound Transit in June 2023 awarded Mercy Housing and Open Doors to develop the 2-acre property, which was used as a light rail construction site. Sound Transit sold the property to Mercy Housing for $250,000, a $6.5 million discount on the appraised value, a decision by the Sound Transit Board to facilitate affordable housing, according to the transit agency.
Mercy Housing is an affordable housing developer providing development, property management and resident services. It owns 53 properties serving over 6,000 residents in Washington, Idaho and Oregon.
“At Mercy Housing, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit affordable housing organizations, we believe everyone deserves a place to call home,” said Ismael Guerrero, president and CEO of Mercy Housing Inc. “This groundbreaking represents new opportunity for the families and individuals who will live here, and we’re proud to partner with the Kent community to help create stable homes that support residents today and for generations to come.”
Over 50% of the homes will have two or more bedrooms, including some four-bedroom units, meeting a critical need for affordable family-sized rental housing, according to Mercy Housing. Developing housing for large households aligns with the city of Kent’s Housing Options Plan, which prioritizes developing housing for large, and intergenerational households.
Kent-based Open Doors for Multicultural Families will operate on the basement and ground floors of the project. This space will include an inclusive Early Learning Center focused on meeting the needs of diverse families and children with developmental and intellectual disabilities, and a new Family Resource Center with office space for Open Doors and other nonprofit organizations.
“This groundbreaking celebrates more than a building—it marks the creation of a community built by and for people with IDD (intellectual or developmental disability) from diverse cultural backgrounds,” said Ginger Kwan, Open Doors director of Public Policy and Community Development. “The Multicultural Village is a place of belonging, dignity and hope for generations to come.”
Funding toward the project includes $23.3 million from Amazon’s housing fund via a loan to the development, King County contributions of $14.8 million for housing, $5 million for the selected project and $1.2 million for non-residential, according to Mercy Housing. The Washington State Department of Commerce committed $8 million toward housing and $16.8 million toward non-residential.
Kent Multicultural Village also will feature a spacious public plaza adjacent to the north entrance of the transit station. The plaza will include public art and flexible space to accommodate community events and gatherings.
