The second phase Rancho Mission Viejo’s new Esencia village is set for a grand opening Sunday.

The 2,810-home Esencia community is being built in three phases along 890 acres of some of the highest elevations of the historic Rancho Mission Viejo cattle ranch (aka The Ranch). The 33 neighborhoods are mostly houses, with some apartments.

The first phase, the Canyon House Neighborhoods, opened Sept. 20, 2015 with 840 homes in 12 neighborhoods. It is 60 percent sold out, Rancho Mission Viejo officials said.

The Hilltop Neighborhoods, which are at higher elevations, add another 877 homes in 12 neighborhoods. Grading has started for the third phase of Esencia, but a start date for construction has not been set.

Esecnia continues a community trend of having more senior housing.

Rancho Mission Viejo’s first village, Sendero, was a multi-generational project, including a gated collection of four neighborhoods of primarily single-story homes exclusive to seniors age 55 years or older. Esencia will have no gates so those 55 and older are integrated into the neighborhoods.

The new community’s recreational amenities are open to all residents, but there are pools and parks designated for Esencia’s active adults.

“It’s about choice and inviting people to interact or be as connected as they choose,” Diane Gaynor, spokeswoman for Rancho Mission Viejo, said. “Instead of dividing people by age, we want to unite them by interests and abilities through all sorts of programs, activities and events – while still providing them with the opportunity to hang with people their own age.”

Esencia is located north of Cow Camp Road and east of Antonio Parkway.

Esencia’s new neighborhoods are built around central gathering spots, including the Canyon House – a community social hall with a coffee shop, meeting rooms, a catering kitchen, a large activity room and an open-air courtyard looking over an oak tree preserve with scenic lookouts and multi-use hiking trails. Adjacent to the Canyon House is Esencia Farm, one of three community farms now operating at Sendero and Esencia.

Other amenities planned to open in the next year include The Hilltop Club, which will be a community recreational centerpiece with fitness and group spaces, a pool, spa and wader, bar, arcade, fire pits and a barbecue pavilion.

A dog park, a camp-out space with tent platforms and the Esencia Green – a place for concerts and community events – are slated to open by summer 2017. The Esencia K-8 school is scheduled to open in fall 2018.

“We spent a lot of time on the activities and programming at the key amenities,” Gaynor said. “Adding lots of places for neighbors to gather breaks down the scale of where you live and allows for neighborhood building.”

Esencia and Sendero are part of 6,000 acres identified for development – about 25 percent of the 23,000-acre Rancho Mission Viejo, the last of Orange County’s cattle ranches and the only such place ranched and farmed by the same family since 1882. The other 17,000 acres of The Ranch are reserved as permanent open space managed as The Reserve at Rancho Mission Viejo.

Gaynor said 14,000 homes are envisioned with about 6,000 for residents 55 and older, Gaynor said.

Contact the writer: npercy@scng.com