Chinatown welcomes ‘a new building and a new day’ with the Crane

The new community center at the Crane comes after years of fighting for recreational space in Chinatown.

Ryan Briggs

November 8, 2019

Young students from the Chinatown Learning Center sing during the grand opening of the Crane Chinatown community center. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

Philadelphia’s Chinatown neighborhood is marking the end of an unfortunate era — The densely populated downtown neighborhood has gone decades without a major community or recreational space.

That changed on Friday when the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC) cut the ribbon on the Crane, a $75 million residential tower that will also host a basketball court, fitness center, educational space, and daycare that are primarily aimed at serving the region’s largest Asian-American community.

Colorful painted koi fish swim among lily pads at the entrance to the new Crane Chinatown community center. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

“This is a new building and a new day for Chinatown,” said PCDC executive director John W. Chin.

The 20-story tower, some 30 years in the making, sits just north of a small cap over the Vine Street Expressway designed to make it easier to cross its seven lanes of traffic and parking.

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A rooftop event space at the Crane Chinatown building is available to apartment residents and members of the community. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

Mayor Kenney was on location at the ribbon-cutting and hailed the new development.

“This community center will contribute to the development of this neighborhood while serving and becoming a hub for the community,” he said.

Sara Yeung, a community planner who worked on the project, described the space as a “home base” for the Chinatown community in a recent op-ed.

“The Crane was inspired by the children from FACTS Charter School and Holy Redeemer who have recess in a parking lot,” Yeung wrote. “It was inspired by the elders who practice tai chi elbow-to-elbow in the cramped Chinatown office space of On Lok Senior Services Center.”

Financing for the long-awaited project was supported by EB-5 investment programs — which grant green cards and a path to citizenship to foreign investors who invest in job-creating real estate projects — and a $5 million state grant.

The remainder of the building, which is listed as a separate property from the adjoining recreational center, will house some 150 apartments. This portion of the development, once envisioned as a more mixed-income development, has since scaled back affordable housing plans to just three units.

PCDC began marketing that portion of the building for sale over the summer as a luxury rental address with a $67 million price tag.

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