For decades, the Lee Family Association, one of the oldest civic groups in Manhattan’s Chinatown, has helped countless Chinese immigrants, working from a six-story building on Mott Street.
Its latest campaign: a makeover, which begins with the moving of the mahjong tables.
“It’s only temporary – for the older people,” said Sonny Lee, 49, head of the group’s fledgling youth chapter, as he pored over old sets of games. Instead, he pointed to the new karaoke lights, pool table and exercise bike.
Lees, like many traditional Chinese associations based on family, occupation or region, needs new blood – and the future of Chinatown, one of the few remaining working-class neighborhoods in Manhattan, may depend on replenishing their aging ranks.
The group’s importance has to do with their coveted real estate portfolio, amassed over decades serving members of the Chinese-Chinese community ranging from restaurateurs and shops to longtime low-income tenants.
Although demographic changes in Chinatown have reduced the membership of the clubs, they remain one of the last bulwarks against progress in the covered Lower Manhattan area. surrounded by luxury developments.
The New York Times has identified at least 42 buildings owned by dozens of associations — a collection of walk-in and rental commercial buildings that are home to many small businesses and hundreds of steady tenants. . Altogether they’re worth at least $93 million, according to city estimates, but perhaps two or three times that on the open market.
While many groups have held onto their properties for decades, the pandemic has posed even greater challenges, with rising taxes, unpaid rent and rising maintenance costs that could force owners to sell. – and consume a fragile balance of the neighborhood.
“When we lose them, who will take over?” Jan Lee, a board member of Small Property Owners of New York, an advocacy group. “It is not another Chinese property owner. It can be a corporate entity. “
Fang Wong, 74, former president of the local Wong Family Benevolent Association, said the clocks were ticking now for many groups to come up with plans to turn the tide.
“We are at an important turning point,” he said. “Unless we change, it will be out in the next 10 years.”
‘This area should be the next’
Unlike affluent neighborhoods like SoHo and parts of the Lower East Side, where real estate investors have helped fuel the wave of luxury developments, Chinatown has been sheltered from most traffic speculative translation. Bob Knakal, New York-based president of investment sales for JLL, a commercial real estate firm, says that’s partly down to longtime property owners.
“Many owners there either don’t speak English, or pretend not to speak English, so it’s difficult to call the property owners in Chinatown,” he said. “From a brokerage perspective, this is one of the areas that is very difficult to penetrate.”
Michael Tortorici, executive vice president of Ariel Property Advisors, a commercial real estate brokerage, said the zoning rules favor low-rise construction and concentration of buildings with rental regulations as well. discouraged investors.
Recent developments – including a nearly 850-foot luxury apartment tower in nearby Hai Cau, a lower-income neighborhood – have tested the price profile and renewed interest in the Neighborhood. Ship.
“I have always thought, even before Covid, that this region has to be the next,” Mr. Tortorici said.
Thomas Yu, leader of the Asian-American group for Equality, said:
“Some of them are sitting on over 100-year-old buildings with significant capital needs, and they don’t have enough money to invest,” he said.
A shift in ownership between many commercial buildings and small apartments could harm tenants, many of whom have joined landlords in lowering rents during the pandemic.
Ting’s Gift Shop, on Doyers Street, has had the same owner since it opened more than 60 years ago: the Sun Wei Association, a club headquartered above the store whose members hail from a district in Guangdong province.
Eleanor Ting, one of the owners, said the store was forced to close for six months because of the pandemic, but the association agreed to cut the $3,000-a-month rent in half for a year while the store reopens. return. A building manager for Sun Wei confirmed the arrangement.
“They’re human about it – they’re willing to work with us,” Ting said, adding that several nearby businesses have closed permanently because landlords are inflexible.
Most associations rely on rent from commercial tenants simply to cover costs. “Buildings are not an investment, they are for associations.” Eric Ng, 72, a retired accountant who also owns coffee and cookie businesses, and was the former chairman of Hoy Sun Ning Yung, one of the more prominent neighborhoods chief.
For most longtime members, property represents the sacrifice and labor of their predecessors and, above all, a home, said Justin Yu, 76, recent president of the Human Rights Association. from China Consolidation, or CCBA, an umbrella organization for many clubs. “They have a place to congregate. ”
During the pandemic, several groups have become the lifeblood of the neighborhood. The CCBA organizes food banks and coordinates coronavirus testing and vaccinations. Several member groups have rallied against the rise in anti-Asian violence across New York.
Several union headquarters remained essential campaigning stops for candidates, including Mayor Eric Adams while he was running for office. Groups have also spoken out against new homeless shelters and the construction of a local prison as part of the city’s plan to replace the struggling Rikers detention complex.
Origins of associations
Charlie Lai, a community organizer who helped found the American Museum of Chinese.
Many groups were formed after laws such as the China Exclusion Act of 1882, which in effect banned or restricted Chinese immigration until 1965.
Linked by common surname, country of origin or occupation, groups that act like de facto government, arbitrate disputes, collect fees and decide where businesses can open, along with lending money and help members find jobs.
The first immigrants “are not welcome anywhere,” Lai said, and must “create their own sense of place and create this rule of law.”
The Wong Association provided that space for Mr. Wong’s family, he said: “I remember when I was very young, my father, every spare moment he had, this is where he spent it.”
Amy Chin, a genealogist and board chair of Think! Chinatown, a nonprofit community group, says that spirit persists. “You can go there and have a meal,” she said. “Some of these family associations always have a cooking rice cooker.”
Today, the associations’ struggles are tied in part to demographic changes in Chinatown.
New York City’s Chinese population has grown 60% since 2000, to 570,000 from 357,000, but the growth has largely been outside of Manhattan. In Chinatown, China’s population decreased by about a third over the same period, from 51,000 to 34,000. Indeed, many members of the association no longer live in Chinatown.
Part of the drop was due to high housing costs. In the first quarter of 2022, the average rent in Chinatown was $3,000 a month, compared with $1,950 in Flushing, a Chinese hub in Queens, according to listing website StreetEasy.
At the same time, the functions that associations once provided are increasingly being provided by Chinese-speaking social service and nonprofit organizations, tending to more leftist than traditional groups and attract more young people.
Chinese immigrants have also changed. Most associations are run by Taishanese speakers, while many newcomers, from regions like Fujian, speak different dialects.
And there are political divisions. Some associations still fly the flag of the Republic of China – the flag of Taiwan – out of respect for the statesman Sun Yat-sen, who gave a speech in Chinatown in 1911 advocating the overthrow. Qing dynasty. But some recent Chinese immigrants consider Taiwan a breakaway province.
Many associations are also selective about who they join. Family groups limit members to people with the same last name; regional associations that claim family origin in a particular Chinese village or county; and most require confirmation from an existing member. Some groups still do not offer full membership for women.
But despite their age, many groups remain wary of relaxation rules.
Tak Wong, 76, former president of the Lin Sing Association, which owns an apartment building on Mott Street with souvenir shops on the ground floor, said new members may question the need to keep assets. produce.
“They have no passion for property,” Mr. Wong said, echoing a common refrain among longtime association members. “They just got in and waited until there was enough power, and then they voted, ‘Sell it!'”
Some associations have adopted rules that make it more difficult to sell or refinance assets, including requiring approval from most boards. (In 2010, a New York state court found an association’s property transfer was fraudulent, and union leaders sued each other over its handling of leases and payments. .)
A youth drive
It’s a slow evolution, but some groups are trying to update their practices. In 2018, Hoy Sun Ning Yung, one of the largest Taishanese groups, elected the youngest and first American-born president, Raymond Tsang, a 38-year-old funeral home director from Staten Island, who did not speak. speak Taisha.
He found that modernizing the group was a challenge. “We don’t even send emails,” Mr. Tsang said.
In March, he also became president of CCBA and one of his first acts was to create a CCBA Twitter account.
Virginia Wong, a retired New York City civil servant who has been active in Chinatown for a long time, became one of the first female members of Wong’s association a few years ago. While she and others have talked about ways to attract younger members, her first task was simpler: digitize the moldy membership list.
However, maintaining the support of older members is important. “You can’t say, ‘Oh, I want to do this or that,’” Ms. Wong said. “It takes time.”
After becoming president of the Lee Family Association in 2015, Wade Li, 40, a healthcare executive from Long Island, said he had encountered opposition from large members. age on seemingly simple proposals: replace the building’s old elevators or expand the pool of student aid recipients. .
“Most of my ideas are unpopular,” he said.
But in the end Li prevailed, and the group’s latest effort, a new youth chapter complete with a refurbished clubroom, aims to attract more like-minded young professionals, Sonny Lee, 49 age, said a chemist who will lead the new group.
“It’s like an incubator,” he said.
The group formed a “base” committee. Average age: 60.
Kitty Bennett research contributions.
