Rick Cecrle was with his family at the river near his home in Mill City in August 2020 when he noticed the Santiam Fire turning the sky orange. The family initially ignored what was happening, but when Cecrle’s wife woke him up after receiving alerts, he felt his eyes burning and the panic began to settle in.
Before the Labor Day wildfires burned more than 400,000 acres throughout northwest Oregon, Cecrle evacuated and left behind his home as well as the house he and his father, Tom, built more than 30 years ago. He lost almost everything: personal items, irreplaceable posters and trophies from when he competed in motorbike racing.
Christopher Jacobs, who also lived in Mill City, was notified when the fire reached Gates. In disbelief, he went to check for himself.
“It was chaotic,” he said. “(There was) so much debris in the road from the high winds; people were trying to scramble, (and) lots of people on horses. The roads were packed.”
Jacobs rushed home and grabbed everything that mattered most to him, evacuating with his two children and leaving behind the home he had lived in for four years.
Four years after the fires displaced more than 700 families, Mill City is giving survivors a second chance at permanent shelter with the $24 million 54-unit, townhouse-style Beech Street Commons affordable housing community.
Oregon Housing and Community Services, the WaFd Bank and low-income housing tax credit equity helped fund the development.
Rick Cecrle lost his home and the home he and his father, Tom, built over 30 years ago in the 2020 Santiam Fire. Cecrle plans to reside in Beech Street Commons as a temporary shelter, with the goal of eventually moving to Indiana.
Beech Street Commons built with families in mind
Beech Street Commons, located at 1400 NW Santiam Blvd., opened in November for people who make 30% to 60% of the area’s median income.
The complex offers one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units and prioritizes people or families affected by the Beachie Creek Fire.
Green Light Development founder Mark Desbrow said Beech Street Commons plans to have 25% of the complex occupied by fire survivors who were directly displaced. At least eight families directly impacted live in the commons now.
Beech Street Commons in Mill City was built to include a school bus stop.
Property manager LeeAnn Leavitt said they expect the 4–acre community to have all units filled by Saturday.
Beech Street Commons was developed with fire resistance in mind: The building has metal roofing and utilizes noncombustible materials such as fiber cement. Underbrush from trees was also removed from the area. Leavitt said the units have “state-of-the-art” fire extinguishers, and the baseboard heaters are attached to the wall above the window.
The apartments were built with families in mind. Most units are three-bedroom apartments, and the complex has a playground, picnic area and school bus stop. Washers and dryers are inside each unit.
Beech Street Commons also has a community service partner, Cornerstone, which is CORES-certified — Certified Organization for Resident Engagement and Services. They provide services such as health and wellness, youth development, financial stability and more.
Challenges building Beech Street Commons
Desbrow described the housing complex — which took more than three years to develop — as a “complicated project” due to Mill City’s rural infrastructure.
“The amount of street work and site work improvements was atypical and very significant,” he said.
Beech Street Commons in Mill City is an affordable housing community offering one-, two-, three and four-bedroom apartments at its 54-unit complex.
Development of the commons had to be delayed so Mill City could undergo a sewer assessment to determine whether there was enough capacity for the 54-unit community. Developers also had to build and extend three roads to access the development.
“We’ve used this project to help provide housing units on the ground, but also unlock the ability to develop more housing units,” Desbrow said. “Whatever we build later on, or the county builds later on, will be significantly less expensive because of this project.”
What living at Beech Street Commons means to Labor Day wildfire survivors
After the Labor Day fires, survivors were relocated into temporary housing. Cecrle and his family were moved to a Gresham hotel, after spending the night in a Winco parking lot the night of the fire. Jacobs and his kids were relocated to a Salem hotel. Both families stayed in their hotels for weeks until it was safe to go back home.
“It’s hard to wrap your head around what just happened and then to see the damage,” Jacobs said. “I don’t see how Mill City did not burn to the ground.”
Christopher Jacobs left his home where he had lived for four years with his two children during the 2020 Labor Day wildfires. Jacobs intends to stay at Beech Street Commons long term.
Jacobs lived with his then-girlfriend when some women from an outreach community center told him about Beech Street Commons. Cecrle lived in a multiplex home owned by a family friend when he also learned about the housing complex.
Jacobs sees himself living in the community long term, while Cecrle is using his time there to save money so he and his family can move to Indiana.
Cecrle described living in the community as a “breath of new life,” while Jacobs said it was “forward progress.”
Alexander Banks is a news intern at the Statesman Journal. Reach him at abanks@statesmanjournal.com
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Beech Street Commons brings housing to Oregon wildfire survivors