You are standing at what appears to be the northern border of Chinatown, emphasized by the forbiddingly noisy and wide trench of the Vine Street Expressway. Most casual visitors to Chinatown today would not imagine that the neighborhood continues north of here, and census records suggest that historically, there were never very many Chinese residents above Vine Street even before the construction of the expressway.
However, appearances can be deceiving. Since urban renewal blocked Chinatown's expansion to the east, and the Pennsylvania Convention Center, built in the 1980s, similarly cut the neighborhood off from the area west of 11th street, the north has been the only available direction in which to grow. The relatively quiet blocks north of here house numerous Chinatown supply businesses that don't rely on foot traffic as well as schools and other institutions needing more space than what they can find in the dense blocks to the south. From this plaza, built over the expressway in an effort to bridge the two sides, you can see one of the largest and most influential organizations in Chinatown, the Holy Redeemer Chinese Catholic Church and School, on the northeast corner of 10th and Vine. Threatened by the highway in the 1970s, Holy Redeemer helped lead the fight against it.
You can also see one of the newest institutions, the Chinatown Community Center, which occupies part of the 20-story residential tower completed in 2019 on the northwest corner. The center's indoor gym is depicted in the rendering shown on this page.
The tower was sponsored by the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC), which also has its headquarters on the north side of the expressway a block east of here. Marketed as Crane Chinatown, the tower features market-rate units, many with spectacular views, that help to subsidize the community center. The development attracted investment from mainland Chinese who saw the potential of luxury housing in this location.
Do you think that this development promotes gentrification in the area? How might it support community development? Should a nonprofit community development corporation like PCDC be involved in a development like Crane Chinatown that provides both luxury housing and amenities for the broader community?
Image source: Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation