Las Adelitas Brings Renewal to Portland’s Cully Neighborhood

Las Adelitas is providing a new beginning in Portland, Oregon’s Cully neighborhood.

Over 10 years in the making, the vibrant 142-unit development has risen on the former site of the Sugar Shack, an infamous strip club. The units range from studios to three-bedrooms and serve formerly homeless individuals, working families, and people of color.

“This project transformed a place where many women [allegedly] were used and abused into a place whose very name, Las Adelitas, represents the empowerment of the community as organizers, leaders, and fighters,” says Ernesto Fonseca, CEO of Hacienda Community Development Corp., the developer behind the project. “Las Adelitas were the women soldiers who fought alongside men to win the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Their determination to overcome their struggles is matched by that of the residents of Las Adelitas today.”

Residents have access to on-site services, an event space with a commercial kitchen, bike parking, and an interior courtyard with play areas. Hacienda’s on-site Portland Niños program for children 5 and younger aims to reduce academic and health disparities among Latino children.

The $58.4 million sustainable development is Earth Advantage Gold certified, with a large rooftop solar photovoltaic array; energy-efficient appliances; electric-vehicle charging stations; an EV car-sharing program and an EV Van Shuttle in partnership with Forth; and an EV van for youth and family programming funded by PGE Drive Change Fund.

“For the residents living at Las Adelitas, it means a great opportunity to live in a beautiful place where they can be at peace, and that means a lot for everyone,” adds Fonseca. “Las Adelitas is not just a project that is housing people, it is a project that really gives hope and peace to many, not just the residents.”