Disclosure: The Chinatown Blogger is not affiliated with the Parcel 24 project or the developer New Boston Fund. This was written as an observer in a public meeting.

Janelle Chan of Asian CDC, Lillian Lew-Hailer of New Boston Fund, and Jeremy Liu, Director of Asian CDC, at Leather District Neighborhood Association meeting.

Lisa Davis (right) of New Boston Fund, the for-profit development partner with Asian CDC on Parcel 24.

Report back on Parcel 24 presentation at the Leather District Neighborhood Association meeting tonight. I have written here before on Parcel 24, a housing development on Hudson Street which is expected to be completed by 2010. Asian CDC is a non-profit community developer that helped in building the recently finished Metropolitan in Chinatown. Lisa Davis of New Boston, the for-profit developer, explained that New Boston is a “full-service equity fund that seeks investments in urban areas with a focus on positive environmental return.” New Boston has projects down the eastern seaboard to Florida. Investors in New Boston include state/local pension funds and banks.

Jeremy Liu, director of Asian CDC, the community non-profit developer, talked about how the process started 4 and a half years ago when the community found out that the land would be available upon the completion of the Big Dig. Through community planning and legislative action, Chinatown was able to get the Mass Turnpike Authority and the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) to adopt the community’s vision for Parcel 24. Parcel 24 has a long history in Chinatown, going back some 45 years ago when in 1962 the neighborhood was destroyed to make way for a highway. Where Parcel 24 is, there used to be hundreds of residents living in houses there. The people were dispersed and compensated only one-third of the market-value for their homes. Asian CDC board chairwoman, Caroline Chang, was born on Hudson Street. She is now a main driving force to bring back displaced residents to the area.

Janelle Chan summarized some key points of Parcel 24. The project will have 325 housing units, with up to 50% being affordable for different income levels. There will be 70 affordable rental units and 66-99 affordable condos (depending on financing). There will be 5000 sq. ft. of commerical/retail space and 6000 sq. ft. of community space. Building will be 200 feet or 20 stories at the highest point on Kneeland St. and scale down to as low as 4 stories. In October, there will be an offical filing the the BRA. The BRA will have a process to gather community input and public meetings.

Some of the Q&A session:

Q: How will the project determine median incomes for affordable units? Is it based on Leather District or Chinatown?

A: Lisa Davis: It will be based on HUD guidelines. (HUD definition of affordable=$59,000/household)

Q: Concerns about large number of housing units affecting local parking and traffic access to Hudson Street? Will Leather District residents be able to purchase a parking space in the new development?

A: Jeremy Liu: Hudson St. will remain a one way street… Based on the recently completed Metropolitan building, there was not that much demand to buy parking spaces. The Metropolitan could not sell all their parking spaces. Also, Chinatown has ample resident parking at night. 2000 Census showed that only 30% of residents in Chinatown owned vehicles and majority take public transportation. Residents of Parcel 24 will get first chance to buy available parking spaces and development team will look into if Leather District residents can buy spaces.

Q: A LD resident pointed out that the Dainty Dot is a 320 feet building. LD residents has strong sentiments on Dainty Dot. However, Dainty Dot keeps pointing to Parcel 24’s height. Should a 20 story high building on Kneeland St. be an issue? (My interpretation: The resident is saying that if the neighborhood approves Parcel 24 which exceeds the height limit of 120 stories, but goes against the 27 story Dainty Dot, would that be setting a double standard?)

A: Alex Zhang: The height question was not addressed directly, except that Asian CDC and New Boston argued that Parcel 24 is very different project than Dainty Dot…

The presentation ended with Hasley Collins, moderator of the LDNA meeting, stating that the LDNA will come to a decision and will write letters to the City and BRA stating their position on Parcel 24.