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Boston Chinatown Residents Temporarily Stop Building of Market Rate Apartment Building
by Mark Liu
posted 4/20/04
Boston Chinatown, located near downtown, has been facing a blessing and a curse. Its central location makes it easily accessible by public transportation, and near shops and government offices. On the other hand, it has been subjected to a constant onslaught of development. The newest proposal is a new apartment next to Mass Pike Towers. Mass Pike towers is federally subsidized housing. Trinity Financial, the owner of the building, has proposed a 13-story market-rate apartment building in the parking lot of Mass Pike Towers. This would continue the trend of gentrification in Chinatown that would eventually cause rents to increase so much that the working class residents could not afford to live there. Already two market-rate developments have or are going up in and around Chinatown.
After gaining concessions in the Liberty Place struggle, Chinatown residents have won another victory, albeit temporary. Yet in a surprising move, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) requested that Trinity pull their proposal. The BRA cited community concerns for the request. Michelle Yee, a resident of Mass Pike Towers, points out that building a market rate project on federally subsidized land "would set a precedent." The community had not only concerns about the precedent it would set, but also the sunlight that would be blocked from the federally subsidized building and the violation of the community's renewal plan.
Millennium Place is the newest market-rate development to go up in Chinatown. It houses a new Ritz Hotel and custom condominiums. Liberty Place, another market-rate housing project is under construction. Read about the Liberty Place struggle.
