The name Mission Grove incorporates important facets of Riverside’s heritage – both the Mission Inn and the citrus groves that played strategic roles in Riverside’s early development. The Mission Grove neighborhood became an important part of the City through a number of annexations approved between 1963 and 2001.
The Mission Grove neighborhood is a newer area of the City that consists of a mix of single-family residential, apartments, condominiums, retail and office uses most of which was developed since the 1980’s. The northern half of the neighborhood, tucked between the Canyon Crest neighborhood and Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park, consists almost entirely of medium to low-density residential tract homes with three-car garages and large side yards.
Residents living in homes situated along the edge of the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park enjoy magnificent views of the park, cityscape and mountains beyond. Higher density residential condominiums, apartments and planned residential developments are concentrated along Alessandro Boulevard as well as south of Alessandro Boulevard surrounding the retail hub of the neighborhood. Radiating to the southeast of the higher density activity core are conventional single-family tract homes.
The Mission Grove Plaza and Mission Village shopping centers, located along Alessandro Boulevard near Mission Grove Parkway, offer a variety of shopping, dining and entertainment conveniently close to all residents within Mission Grove. A short distance south of Mission Grove Plaza, is a concentration of business office park buildings located along Trautwein Road near Mission Grove Parkway. Businesses in this area combined with nearby new industrial and office development east of the neighborhood in the Sycamore Canyon Business Park serve to provide many quality job opportunities for the area.
The Henry J. Mills Water Filtration Plant operated by the Metropolitan Water District occupies a relatively large expanse of open space located at the northeast corner of Alessandro Boulevard and Mission Grove Parkway extending to the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park at the community’s easterly edge. Adjacent to the Mills treatment plant, on Mission Grove Parkway, are the offices of the Western Municipal Water District (WMWD). At this location, the public can visit WMWD’s Water Conservation Center and Garden and learn all about water wise landscaping appropriate to the region.
The Mission Grove area is well served by fine schools and public facilities. Taft Elementary School and Taft Neighborhood Park are nestled on the northern edge of the neighborhood. The nearly 1,600 acre Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park flanks the neighborhood’s northern boundary, providing open space, hiking and mountain biking opportunities on informal trails. Mission Grove, Orangecrest and Sycamore Canyon Fire Stations located outside the neighborhood, are all only a short distance away and are ready to serve the neighborhood from almost every direction - south, east and west.