“Chinatown Connections” Plan to add new Public Space and Improve Traffic Safety in Chinatown

Administration Will Partner With New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative to Invest $56 Million in Chinatown

“Chinatown Connections” Will Kick Off With Public Engagement Period Starting This Month

Delivers on Key Commitment Made by Mayor Adams in This Year’s State of the City Address 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams launched “Chinatown Connections,” a joint city and state investment that will dramatically improve the public space in Chinatown through redesigning Park Row and Chatham/Kimlau Square — making the area safer, more-pedestrian friendly, and more welcoming to both residents and visitors. “Chinatown Connections” will bring together $44.3 million in city capital funding with $11.5 million from New York state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative awards for a total project budget of $56 million. Building on an announcement in Mayor Adams’ State of the City address last month, “Chinatown Connections” furthers the Adams administration’s commitment to enhancing and expanding public space across the city.

“For far too long, Chinatown residents, neighbors, and tourists alike had to deal with confined public spaces and dangerous intersections at Chatham/Kimlau Square, but those days are coming to a close. Our $56 million joint investment with the state in ‘Chinatown Connections’ will allow us to reimagine the square with shortened street crossings, more public space, simpler intersections, and direct cyclist connections — making our streets even safer for all New Yorkers to share,” said Mayor Adams. “We’ll beautify Park Row, making it easier for New Yorkers and tourists to get from the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge to Chinatown and all the small businesses here, and we’ll give Chinatown the entrance it deserves with a new Welcome Gateway that honors this neighborhood’s rich cultural heritage. At every step of the way, we will work hand-in-hand with the local Chinatown community so that the project reflects what the community wants and needs from our city. This announcement is another step in our work to revitalize the future of Chinatown and reimagine the urban experience for all New Yorkers.”

Reimagining Chatham/Kimlau Square

Currently, Chatham/Kimlau Square features a five-point intersection with complex traffic movements; this results in many conflict points, which endanger drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. This year, in consultation with the local Chinatown community, the administration will kick off a traffic study to inform redesigning Chatham/Kimlau Square to create a standard, four-way intersection, larger public space, shorter pedestrian crossings, and direct cyclist connections. The study will also evaluate the option of either keeping Park Row closed to private car traffic or reopening Park Row in the future with a redesigned Kimlau Square. The study will take into consideration both existing traffic conditions and future traffic conditions under congestion pricing. Following that study and a community engagement process, construction is scheduled to begin in 2027, with estimated completion in 2029. Approximately $5 million of the $11.5 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative award will go towards this redesign.

Beautifying the Park Row Connection to Chinatown 

Park Row is a critical pedestrian and bike route connecting Lower Manhattan, Chinatown, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the new public space at the Brooklyn Bridge Arches. Starting this spring, the city will launch a Street Improvement Project on the Park Row connection to Chinatown, between Frankfort Street and Chatham/Kimlau Square. In consultation with the local community, the city will implement short-term improvements to enhance the pedestrian and bicyclist experience, including safety improvements, art interventions, new planters, and additional wayfinding and signage. In parallel, the city will engage with the local community to evaluate options for deploying $4 million of the $11.5 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative award for permanent improvements on Park Row. The project will begin with a community engagement period, and construction work will commence in 2024, with short-term improvements being installed throughout the year.

Creating a Chinatown Welcome Gateway

The city will also build a Chinatown Welcome Gateway, located in the vicinity of Chatham/Kimlau Square, finally giving one of New York City’s most historic districts the entrance it deserves. The Chinatown Welcome Gateway will commemorate the cultural heritage of the neighborhood and draw visitors to local businesses. The location, size, and design of the gateway will be informed by the traffic study, existing conditions assessment, and robust community engagement. The construction timeline for the Chinatown Welcome Gateway will depend on private fundraising to supplement $2.5 million of the $11.5 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative award.

This month, the city will convene a community working group of key stakeholders across Chinatown sectors to help guide the entire project design and implementation. The community working group is expected to convene at key milestones throughout an 18-month engagement process, and the public engagement process will expand to community board presentations and broader public meetings. These efforts build on three initial public workshops the city conducted with the Chinatown community last year.

NYCEDC will be the lead agency responsible for the procurement, engagement, design, and construction processes. Additionally, NYCEDC will coordinate between NYC Parks, DOT, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA). NYC Parks will lead the Memorial Arch restoration and DOT will lead the Park Row improvements and the new Kimlau intersection, plaza, and gateway. DCLA will facilitate the artist selection process for the Chinatown Welcome Gateway.  

Understanding that public spaces are where communities are built, culture is fostered, and opportunities are created, Mayor Adams committed $375 million to creating new, vibrant public spaces in his 2023 State of the City address. To further that effort, he appointed Ya-Ting Liu as the city’s first-ever chief public realm officer and launched visionary projects in all five boroughs to create new public spaces, including the North Shore of Staten Island, Broadway Vision and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, Broadway Junction in Brooklyn, the Met Hub in Queens, and new, world-class skateparks in the Bronx and Brooklyn. Mayor Adams also signed the country’s largest permanent outdoor dining program into law last year to create better, cleaner, and more accessible sidewalk and roadway cafes and significantly expanded open street programs during the holiday and summer seasons.

To keep the city’s public spaces clean and transform what it feels like to be outside in New York City, Mayor Adams and New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) Commissioner Jessica Tisch launched efforts to containerize 100 percent of businesses’ trash and all residential trash from buildings with nine or fewer units. Building on the progress made over the course of the past two years, last week, the city unveiled a new, automated, side-loading garbage truck and a new data-driven containerization strategy in the city’s next phase of its war on black trash bags. The city will expand its Harlem on-street containerization pilot and take steps to get every single black trash bag off of New York City streets.

About the Downtown Revitalization Initiative

Chinatown was the winner of round five of New York state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, a cornerstone of its economic development program, which transforms downtown neighborhoods into vibrant centers that offer a high-quality of life and are magnets for redevelopment, business, job creation, and economic and housing diversity. Led by the New York Department of State, with assistance from Empire State Development, Homes and Community Renewal, and the New York state Energy Research and Development Agency, the Downtown Revitalization Initiative represents an unprecedented and innovative “plan-then-act” strategy that couples strategic planning with immediate implementation and results in compact, walkable downtowns that are a key ingredient to helping New York state rebuild its economy from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to achieving the state’s bold climate goals by promoting the use of public transit and reducing dependence on private vehicles.

In the first six years of the program, the state committed $700 million investing in 69 downtowns ripe for revitalization. Participating communities are nominated by the state’s 10 Regional Economic Development Councils based on the downtown’s potential for transformation. Each community is awarded $10 million to develop a downtown strategic investment plan and implement key catalytic projects that advance the community’s vision for revitalization and leverage additional private and public investments. More information on the Downtown Revitalization Initiative is available online.