Proposal to build 25-story luxury hotel raises concerns in Chinatown
BOSTON - What was once an unstable building, may soon be a hotel in Chinatown. Only, the future is as shaky as the past.
The former apartment complex at 15 Harrison Ave. was deemed unsafe to live in 2012 after fire crews found missing structural columns in the basement.
"It was an accident, and the tenants had to leave," remembers Felix Lui, Chairman of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA). They are a group overseeing 30 organizations in Chinatown that serve the community.
Lui believes the hotel could be a major catalyst for businesses in the area. He says several other Chinatowns around the United States have Chinese-owned hotels within their neighborhoods, but Boston does not.
"We need to grow Chinatown"
The hotel is proposed to be 25 floors, which has some residents concerned, even though a tall complex already sits behind the building.
"If the height is an issue, then it should be the height of the whole Chinatown. It is growing all around us. All over, much, much higher," said Lui. "If we keep not doing anything for Chinatown, it will end up a slum. We need to grow Chinatown as other neighborhoods."
"This hotel does exceed the height even in the proposed zoning changes. If more zoning projects are approved that don't meet the code, it becomes a free for all," countered Muge Undemir, director of real estate at Asian CDC. "Residents see a ton of hotel development happening in the area."
Call for more affordable housing
Undemir believes approval could encourage other developers to flood the area with tall building proposals. It's a neighborhood she says already has seen land costs double or triple in the last ten years which is making it hard for people to stay.
"People are hoping the property, or any existing vacant land, will go toward affordable housing because we are in a housing crisis," said Undemir.
"CCBA, my organization, just finished another 85-unit affordable housing building. We are planning to do 120 units down the street. There is plenty of affordable housing," said Lui. "It will be new employment and jobs. The hotel won't have their own food service, so [guests] will spend in town and do shopping."
Renderings of the building show that it will tower high enough to be seen amongst parts of Boston's skyline.
