It’s a snowy Thursday night in downtown Washington, and tonight Chinatown feels a bit more like China than usual. Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets are in town to play the Washington Wizards and, as expected, the MCI Center is nearly sold-out, ticket sales boosted by the NBA’s newest celebrity.
Thousands of local Chinese are here in force to see Yao, one of their idols, and they make themselves known every time Yao touches the ball. Halftime features a small Chinese New Year celebration with drums and dancing dragons.
After the final whistle blows on a close game, the stadium empties out onto Seventh Street N.W. in the heart of Chinatown. Brushing elbows with the masses of Chinese fans hurrying to their cars and to the subway, you would think that Chinatown is a vibrant, close-knit ethnic community, where cultural immersion is a certainty. But looking up at the shops along the street, you’re quickly reminded of what property in Chinatown is quickly becoming—Ruby Tuesday’s, Radio Shack and Fuddrucker’s.
Since its opening in 1997, the MCI Center has spawned substantial economic development, turning the area between G Street and Massachusetts Avenue from Fifth and Ninth Streets N.W. into one of the city’s more bustling commercial areas. It’s a far cry from the Chinatown of six years ago, where the thought of a Hooters restaurant on the same block as Wah Shing Kung-Fu School would have seemed laughable. But tonight, once the Chinese fans leave for home, Chinatown will once again go back to what the MCI Center and other local building projects have made it—a community in flux. As the new Washington Convention Center nears completion just six blocks north at Mount Vernon Square and developers move into the area to install chain restaurants, bars and shops, more Chinese-owned businesses will be forced to compete both for customers and increasingly pricey commercial real estate. With these pressures, where will the Chinese fit into Chinatown?
“A great catalyst”
Duane Wang is 77 years old and has lived in Chinatown for over 40 years. He was also the owner of several different shops in Chinatown, including a furniture store, a liquor store and a general food store on the corner of Seventh and H Streets. That store, Wang’s Co., is now a Starbucks decorated with green Chinese characters.
Upon retiring a few years ago, Wang sold his property to local developers for a good price thanks to the rising value of real estate adjacent to the MCI Center. Wang, however, doesn’t seem to mind that parts of what was once a tightly-knit ethnic community now more closely resemble a suburban strip mall.
“We want to make Chinatown a tourist attraction and at the same time a cultural attraction, where people can enjoy Chinese culture as well as other things,” Wang said.
The “we” Wang refers to is the Chinatown Steering Committee—he is the chairman. The Steering Committee advises the city government on development in Chinatown; as chairman, Wang serves as a de facto mayor for the community. The Committee, made up of local residents and property owners, meets each month to review building projects by area developers. One of the Steering Committee’s most visible achievements has been the installation of Chinese lettering above the new chain restaurants moving into the area, an attempt to maintain Chinese cultural identity in the face of new development. Since the development boom began, the Steering Committee has approved over 600 new living units in the area.
“With all these people coming downtown, we want to make Chinatown livable,” Wang said. “Development has been very positive for Chinatown, and you can tell when you come here. We clean the streets all the time, and safety is much better than before.”
In the two decades before the MCI Center was built in 1997, Chinatown was largely neglected and relatively unsafe. Rarely visited by tourists, the area had little to offer beyond its ornamental arch and a smattering of Chinese restaurants.
“People went to Chinatown to get Chinese food,” said Roger K. Lewis, professor of architecture at the University of Maryland and an expert on development in D.C.. “It wasn’t much beyond that. Most people had no reason to go there.”
The present Chinatown was established in 1935 in the area of Sixth Street and H Street N.W. after hundreds of area Chinese were displaced by a building project on Capitol Hill. Though small compared to Chinatowns in other cities across the country, the area remained a cultural center for Chinese entering the city from both the D.C. area and abroad. But as Chinatown moved into the 1980s, buildings were decaying and abandoned. Chinese food was one of the few redeeming qualities of the 10-square-block neighborhood.
When the opportunity came to build a new downtown arena, city officials were delighted. Prior to the MCI Center, most sporting events and arena concerts in the D.C. area were held at USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland—not only a cramped, uncomfortable relic, but also, in traffic, a 30-minute drive from the city. The prospect of a new stadium in the heart of the city would not only make it easier on the ticket-buying public, but would also help revitalize the neighborhood.
“With the MCI Center, there was a great catalyst. It got people to rethink what should happen down there, and we’ve seen the real estate phenomenon that’s ensued,” said Lewis. The arrival of chain restaurants, bars and shops began soon after, a familiar sight to the many patrons who travel into the city from the suburbs to see an event at the MCI Center.
Several key developers have managed to capitalize on the revitalization of the area, including Doug Jemal, president of Douglas Development Corp.
“I think the future for Chinatown is very bright, for certain,” said Jemal. That, of course, means the future for Douglas Development Corp. is bright as well. Jemal’s company transformed Seventh Street into the tourist-friendly row of shops and restaurants that it is today. The company’s headquarters are located in Chinatown on H St. N.W., just around the corner from the Fuddrucker’s restaurant it brought to the neighborhood.
Douglas Development’s website reads that the company “has maintained its ‘small but manageable’ approach to property management and development.” Jemal, sole owner of the company, expanded its property portfolio from under half a million square feet of property in 1994 to over 5 million square feet by 1999. Those numbers don’t include the projects currently underway on Seventh Street, such as a block of row houses across the street from the MCI Center.
With this swift influx of upscale business and housing over the last six years and the accompanying rent hikes, the issue of gentrification has come to the forefront. Before the MCI Center was built, for example, rent for an average commercial space on that part of Seventh Street was $5,000 a month. After the MCI Center was built, monthly rent on the block jumped to $30,000.
Rent hikes are forcing some Chinese residents to sell property and leave the booming neighborhood. Even Wang, who strongly supports development in the area, admits that soaring rents may leave some Chinese-owned businesses behind.
“Maybe later on, the development will bring the entire area up, and everyone will be able to afford space. But right now, small businesses can’t afford to go in with the big developers,” Wang said. “The Chinese can’t afford to lease space for business.”
Professor Lewis agrees with Wang’s short term prediction. “There are tremendous real estate pressures. Property is really valuable down there,” he said. “There’s little open real estate downtown.”
When Jemal was asked whether rent prices driven higher by development forced local Chinese out of Chinatown, Jemal refused to comment, but he did claim to “work closely” with Chinese residents in his development plans.
Herbert Miller, president of Western Development Corp., told the Washington Post in 1999 during the early stages of the real estate boom in Chinatown that his company was not responsible for pushing out Chinese citizens.
“What you have in Chinatown is high-density zoning and increased land costs,” Miller said. “We aren’t taking one Chinese business out of operation. We’re trying to reinforce Chinatown.”
Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans, whose district includes Chinatown, has tried to mediate friction between developers and Chinese residents. Windy Abdul-Rahim, a legislative assistant to Evans on matters regarding Chinatown, explained that Evans helped create the Chinatown Steering Committee. In addition, he has supported funding for the Metropolitan Police Station on H St., which has had a significant role in reducing area crime. Abdul-Rahim also said that Evans has worked with city tax laws to make sure that residential development grew at the same rate as commercial development.
“Mr. Evans’ vision is to make sure that the Chinese Community does not leave Chinatown,” said Abdul-Rahim. “It’s a very historic area, and it shows the diversity of Washington. He does not think the Chinese should, or will, leave the area.”
Regarding the issue of high property prices, Evans’ office and the Steering Committee have not been overwhelmed with objections from the Chinese community.
“There are always complaints,” said Abdul-Rahim, “but as of yet, there hasn’t been an outcry.”
New pressures
During the week, the streets of Chinatown are as busy, if not busier, than the other parts of downtown Washington. But the hustle and bustle isn’t just limited to shops, restaurants, and other businesses. Just below the 16-year-old decorative Chinatown arch that abuts a CVS pharmacy on H St., dozens of noisy dump trucks, bulldozers and traffic cones crowd the street. A few yards away, the blocks adjacent to the MCI Center are covered with scaffolding and towering orange cranes.
After re-routing traffic and hurried pedestrians from the sidewalks, construction workers take a break from the winter cold and head into food shops to buy soda and beer. Above, massive banners advertising the architects of this short-term mayhem flutter in the biting wind—Western Development and Douglas Development well represented among them.
Inside Chinatown Garden restaurant on H St., where it’s warm, Beng Hong Loh looks out through the glass windows awaiting the next customer, but it may be a while.
“Business has been bad in here,” said Loh, a 29-year-old waiter at the Chinatown Garden. “Maybe it’s the economy, too, but all these new restaurants have taken away business. I guess we’ve seen about a 25, 30 percent drop in business. People have so much choice, I don’t blame them.”
Loh lives with his wife in an apartment on Sixth St., just around the corner. He’s been a waiter at Chinatown Garden for just under a year. In spite of his perpetual smile, Loh worries about the staying power of his restaurant.
“The amount of businesses down here are only going to increase. With everything moving in, like the new Convention Center, it might get too expensive to stay here,” Loh said.
While some restaurants like Chinatown Garden face higher rents, others, said Loh, refuse to budge in the face of new development. Establishments like Lei Garden and Hunan Chinatown on H Street own their lots instead of renting, giving them more leverage against developers who may hope to buy their property. These restaurants, said Loh, have denied requests from development firms to sell their property.
Down the street, other restaurant owners refused to comment on the state of their businesses. One owner that did speak was less concerned with rent than with parking problems.
“Before all this construction, there were two or three parking lots across the street, so we had lots of business,” said Lui Shing, owner of Chinatown Express on Sixth St. “Now, there’s nowhere to park, and people are afraid of getting expensive parking tickets. It’s very bad for business.”
Indeed, left out of the development plans have been parking garages. While many commercial buildings in the area have underground parking garages, they are inaccessible to shoppers and are often very expensive. Most people driving into Chinatown for MCI Center events are forced to park far away from the arena or pay exorbitant lot rates.
Shing has rented Chinatown Express for 16 years and said he was comfortable with his own rent, but he does express concern for others moving in to the area.
“Now, for people just coming in, rent may be too high,” said Shing. Regardless of their complaints, the addition of the MCI Center has been a mixed blessing for business owners in Chinatown. While new restaurants may make it more difficult to compete for customers, businesses do see larger numbers of customers on MCI Center event nights.
“Without the MCI Center, we’d be dead,” said Loh. “Chinatown would be a ghost town. Business might be bad, but it would be worse without it.”
Chinatown may never again be a small and exclusively Chinese community. But where does its future lie? Most agree that while Chinatown may not be as purely Chinese as before, it will survive alongside its new neighbors. Locals and experts believe that investment in the area will help to bring up all the residents, not just developers and corporations.
“I would predict that there will always be a little bit of Chinatown there, but it won’t be much more,” said Professor Lewis.
Duane Wang has seen Chinatown change directions many times during his long life in the area. While Wang’s Co. may now be one of the most popular Starbucks franchises in the city, Wang does not give up hope for Chinatown, his home for nearly half a century.
“I have lots of friends, I want them to understand that Chinese-Americans, African-Americans and Latin-Americans are all Americans, and we’re all working together to make this community better,” said Wang. “People will want to come here.”
While the only thing “Chinese” about the new chain restaurants in the neighborhood may be the Chinese characters that adorn their marquees, most local residents look forward to a new era in Chinatown. Several explained that they do not fear for the future of the neighborhood, but rather are glad to see a safer, cleaner Chinatown. They hope to see their own community thrive alongside the new residents and developers. It is, as Beng Hong Loh says, better to compete for business than to have no business at all.
“People have survived up until now, and we will continue to survive,” said Loh. “In 10 years, everything will be here, side by side. There will be Chinese restaurants, Mexican restaurants, Italian restaurants and Malaysian restaurants.”
“It may be too expensive to stay here one day,” he said, “but I think we will stay.”
