Groundbreaking for The Metropolitan Culminated Years of Community Activism on Parcel C

August 15, 2002

The Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC), together with Edward A. Fish Associates (EAFA) have broken ground on The Metropolitan, known by its Chinese name as Sun Yi Da Ha (“The Mansion of Trust and Brotherhood”).  The project will include ground-floor retail, elderly housing, commercial and community program space, two levels of underground parking, and 251 units of housing, 115 (or 46%) of which will be affordable.  The project site, known to the Chinatown community as Parcel C, has now been cleared; a groundbreaking ceremony was held at the site on Thursday, August 15, 2002. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, together with a distinguished list of guests included Senator Diane Wilkerson, Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Director Jane Wallis-Gumble, Executive Director of MassHousing, Tom Gleason, Boston Redevelopment Authority Director Mark Malone, and Department of Neighborhood Development Director Charlotte Golar-Richie,  presided over the ceremony. The Metropolitan culminated years of activism by the community fighting for control of the parcel, and affordable housing development effort led by ACDC. Many of the community groups and individuals who fought against the proposed garage on Parcel C and won in 1993, including the Chinese Progressive Association, the Campaign to Protect Chinatown (previously Coalition to Protect Parcel C), Quincy School Community Center (now Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, BCNC),  as well as members of the Tai Tung Village Tenants Association and the Chinatown Resident Association, were also present to share this historical moment.

“The fact that Parcel C is 46% affordable—as compared to the 10% or even 15% that other downtown developers are doing—this is a huge victory for the community and a testament to what can be accomplished if we have a solid partnership with the City and an experienced local developer like Ed Fish”, says Neil Chin (pictured below with fellow ACDC board members Hanna Goon, Mary SooHoo, Aya Kimoto, and Sandra Ng), board member of ACDC and Chair of the Parcel C Committee that oversaw the development of The Parcel C. 

“We are extremely excited,” says Douglas Ling, Executive Director of ACDC,  “that this project will much needed rental housing and ownership opportunity for low and moderate income people in the community, as well as market-rate units that will attract back families and young professionals who may have moved out of Chinatown due to lack of suitable housing options. We had tremendous support and feedback from the community, and will continue to work with residents and community organizations to make this one of the best mixed-use community-based development project around”

Sun Yi Da Ha will also be the new home for two agencies that were housed on the parcel previously: Boston Asian Youth Essential Services (BAYES) and the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC), whose building needed to be demolished for the project.   In addition, the project was structured such that ACDC would own the affordable rental component of The Metropolitan in 15 years, ensuring permanent affordability of the low-income units. Ownership of the market-rate rental units will also be transferred to ACDC in 20 years, so that it would provide a revenue stream to support ACDC’s  on-going community development efforts.

"The Metropolitan is a great example of how mixed-income housing can be created when a skilled developer and a community organization work together," said MassHousing Executive Director Thomas R. Gleason.  "The Asian Community Development Corporation and Edward A. Fish Associates have worked hard to put this together and MassHousing is pleased to be able to commit $65 million in financing to make the Metropolitan a reality." Other major funders of this ambitious project included the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Neighborhood Housing Trust.

Reflecting on the community struggle for control of Parcel C that started with an earlier generation of activists which included the Quincy School Community Council (now the BCNC) fighting to save the 34-38 Oak Street building from the demolition cranes of urban renewal back in 1968; and ended with the community and the Campaign to Protect Parcel C winning the parcel back from becoming a parking garage in 1993, Andrew Leong, Associate Professor at UMass/Boston and a long-time community activist with the CPC commented, “if not for the residents, activists and community groups such as the Chinese Progressive Association, Asian American Resource Workshop, the Chinatown Resident Association, and the BCNC, we would have nothing to build today. We owe a great debt of gratitude to all those in the past that had struggled in order to make this event possible today so this community may continue. May the spirit of Parcel C live on forever.”

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