By Stephanie Rubenstein
CHINATOWN -- For over 40 years, the community stared at an empty lot with a 20-foot cement wall, which blocked the noise of cars that sped by behind it.
A once residential block in the Chinatown community had been paved over and transformed into a highway ramp, displacing 300 residents from a community already pressured by a lack of affordable housing.
The empty lot, Parcel 24, is now being developed into a housing complex, featuring 325 units of which half are planned to be affordable.
“The community wanted to return it into a residential block of Chinatown,” said Janelle Chan, real estate project manager at the Asian Community Development Center (ACDC). “They saw it as an opportunity to bring back the neighborhood and rallied around it. They demanded that the site be returned for a nominal rate, and developed around a vision for what they wanted, which included affordability.”
The project gained roots in 2002 after the completion of the Big Dig. It is currently in the permit phase of construction, and the developers hope to break ground late 2009 – early 2010, completing the complex by 2011 or 2012.
The Chinatown community is increasingly threatened by gentrification, said Dharmena Downey, chief operating officer for the ACDC, where the average wage is $14,000 a year.
“[Chinatown] is referred to as the last ethnic enclave in the city of Boston,” she said. “The character is increasingly threatened by gentrification and there is a huge pressure on the community.”
Parcel 24, once developed, will double the home ownership in Chinatown, Chan said, adding that the number speaks both about the low ownership in Chinatown and the size of the housing project.
“There is some affordable housing, but its not enough, as more immigrants are come into the city,” said Gilbert Ho, president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association. “I don’t think [residents] are threatened [by gentrification], but the city of Boston will relax its policies and requirements a little…it would help developers to focus more on developing.”
The development agency has been working with the community throughout the stages of planning, involving them in design choices and business meetings.
“Having this socioeconomic mix in the community is very important,” Chan said. “Chinatown is a gateway for new immigrants. We hope to maintain a level of affordability [in the project], so that people can enjoy the benefits of living in the downtown area.”
Neighborhood Coordinator Denny Ching said he thought there was a good mix of housing in the area, and that the community was not at any risk from gentrification.
“I think Chinatown will always be there,” he said. “In the parts that are changing, it is more in the downtown aspect. Land in the Boston area is so small that any development is not going to be a small project.”
The Greater Boston Chinese Golden Age Center, a complex for elderly housing, is situated in the heart of Chinatown’s downtown. Ruth Moy, the center’s founder, purchased the former bar and strip club in 1977 and converted it into housing, which opened in 1981.
“[The area] has changed a great deal,” she said. “There are many new private and luxury apartments, but this is affordable housing. We have to work hard to keep things affordable for the community.”
The Golden Age Center currently has 28 housing units, and just received a permit to expand the complex to house 75 units.
“We are trying to expand [housing] where we can,” she said. “Chinatown was here first and this [complex] will still remain affordable
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