A proposal to raze a vacant and dilapidated building in Chinatown to build a 25-story hotel has sparked a debate over whether the project will further boost housing prices around the neighborhood and exacerbate congestion in the already crowded block.

The building’s owner, Sing Ming Chan, claims that the 110-room hotel would bring increased tourism dollars, provide job opportunities, and help revitalize Chinatown. Detractors — including activists and current and former residents of Chinatown — claim that the construction of such a large commercial building will worsen the affordable housing crisis by encouraging real estate speculation. Over the past two decades, several other high-rise buildings were built nearby, also far surpassing zoning limits and despite the objections of resident groups.

The small existing building at 15-25 Harrison Ave. previously housed the See Sun market on the ground floor and housing space up above. After a fire in the building in 2012, the structure became vacant and is “really a remnant of an older building that was partially demolished” as described by Donald Wiest, an attorney specializing in land use and zoning working with Mr. Chan on the development. It was also “partially demolished,” according to Wiest. “It’s just not a safe building, or a structurally sound building to occupy.”

Several former residents of Chinatown, during a group discussion arranged by the Chinese Progressive Association for the Sampan, however, argued that they were concerned about the costs of housing and about traffic and air pollution. But the main concern appeared to be the proposed hotel’s height, which at 277 feet, far exceeds the current zoning limit of 65 feet. The proposal is currently going through what’s called the Article 80 review process needed to be allowed for development.

Some current and former residents said they felt the proposed hotel does not fit with the character of Chinatown and most whom Sampan spoke with said they were opposed to it. Most said they had friends and family who already had to leave the neighborhood because of new luxury developments and getting priced out.

Similar sentiments were shared by activists during a public meeting about the project on Oct. 17.
“We’re all at risk of shrinking and disappearing” said Angie Lou from the Asian Community Development Corporation during her remarks, in reference to ongoing gentrification in Boston’s Chinatown. ACDC’s Jenny Huang said in an interview earlier this month that there’s been a “pattern of these big luxury developments coming into Chinatown and threatening housing.”

Charlie Jiang, a legal fellow with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, brought up similar concerns of “displacement risks” and pollution and claimed that the analysis of the economic benefits is insufficient.

Chan did not respond to several emails seeking his direct comments by deadline for this story, but Wiest argued that this is “not a luxury hotel” and emphasized how it would connect with the community, such as providing an arts space on the ground floor. He also said that to his knowledge, “Boston is the only major city in America where the Chinatown lacks a locally owned hotel” and that Chan is committed to working with the local hotel union to provide good jobs in the community.

At the public meeting, however, several people held signs that said “no 25 story hotel” and repeated many of their concerns. Many people shared concerns about the building’s height and their desires that there be space made for retail and housing. Lydia Lowe from the Chinatown Community Land Trust further stated that “hotel use is not a priority for us.”

Wiest said the footprint of the building created limitations on how much retail could be housed on the lower levels of the building — “we’d love to have more active use of the ground floor, it’s just a very small site,” he said.

Those same size constraints are also the primary reason that housing is difficult to build on the site, he said.

“We have looked at housing in the past, for the most part it’s hard to do housing in a high-rise condition like this,” he said. “For a small building that’s this centrally located, (it’s) tough to do residential here, (but) works well for a hotel.”

Chan appeared to be present in the public Zoom meeting based on the listed participants, but did not address the meeting personally.

Such projects should be, in general, based on what “the market needs,” said Kaushik Vardharajan from Boston University’s School of Hotel Administration, in an interview with the Sampan.

Vardharajan, who refrained from commenting on the project specifically, said typically the hotel operator would ultimately be responsible for engaging with the community.

State Senator Nick Collins, whose district includes the part of Chinatown that includes the site of the proposed hotel, spoke optimistically about the project and said he does see a market need for more hotels in Boston, due to the high room rates. He also spoke of the potential benefits that others in the meeting may have overlooked. Sen. Collins said pricey hotel room rates have been bad for tourism and that the meal and hotel taxes generated by tourism would help alleviate revenue issues that the city is currently facing. Collins did acknowledge that the “displacement of community amenities” is a challenge, but spoke highly of the opportunities a hotel presents, telling Sampan that hotels provide good job opportunities that can be filled by new arrivals and those who are underemployed. He also stated that through a “community cooperation agreement” the property developer could voluntarily contribute to a fund which supports community housing and jobs training, even though the proposed building would be below the square footage which would normally make such contributions a requirement.

But another complaint among opponents of the project is that the city failed to provide multilingual notices of the review process that were easily accessible to Chinatown residents. When activists suggested however that another meeting be held in-person, the city said it was willing to work with the proponent to arrange one. Collins also endorsed the idea of an in-person meeting due to the demographics of the neighborhood that includes many older and Chinese speaking people. “If the process is sound, the dialog is going to be healthy” he told Sampan. “When we’re faced with a public process, we can always do better.”

The public comment period for this project was originally scheduled to end today, but at the suggestion of members of the community, has been extended to Nov. 29.

Comments can be submitted on bostonplans.org and comments in a language other than English can be emailed to planningwebcontent@boston.gov.