Chinatown Civic Groups Seek Reinvention, With Neighborhood’s Future at Stake

For decades, the Lee Family Association, one of the oldest civic groups in Manhattan’s Chinatown, has helped countless Chinese immigrants, working from its six-story building on Mott Street.

Its latest campaign: a makeover, starting with moving the mahjong tables.

“That’s just temporary — for the elders,” said Sonny Lee, 49, the head of the group’s newly formed youth chapter, looking past the well-worn game sets. He pointed instead to the new karaoke disco light, the billiard table and exercise bikes.

The Lees, like many traditional Chinese associations based on family, profession or region, need new blood — and the future of Chinatown, one of the few remaining working-class neighborhoods in Manhattan, could hinge on replenishing their aging ranks.

The groups’ importance is linked to their coveted real estate portfolio, amassed over decades to serve members of the Chinese diaspora, from restaurant and shop owners to longtime low-income renters.

Though demographic changes in Chinatown have thinned the clubs’ membership, they remain one of the last bulwarks against gentrification in an area of Lower Manhattan surrounded by luxury development.

The New York Times identified at least 42 buildings owned by dozens of associations — a collection of commercial walk-ups and tenement buildings that are home to scores of small businesses and hundreds of rent-stabilized tenants. In total they are worth at least $93 million, according to city estimates, but perhaps two or three times as much on the open market.

While many groups have held on to their property for decades, the pandemic has heightened challenges, with rising taxes, unpaid rent and mounting maintenance costs that could force owners to sell — and upend a delicate neighborhood balance.

“When we lose them, who takes over?” said Jan Lee, a board member of the Small Property Owners of New York, an advocacy group. “It’s not another Chinese property owner. It’s likely a corporate entity.”

Now, the clock is ticking for many groups to come up with a turnaround plan, said Fang Wong, 74, a former president of the local Wong Family Benevolent Association.

“We’re at a critical curve,” he said. “Unless we change, it’s going to go out in the next 10 years.”

‘This area has to be next’

Unlike affluent neighborhoods like SoHo and sections of the Lower East Side, where real estate investors have helped fuel a wave of luxury developments, Chinatown has been shielded from most speculative deals. That’s partly because of longtime property owners, said Bob Knakal, the chairman of New York investment sales at JLL, a commercial real estate firm.

“A lot of owners there either don’t speak English, or pretend not to speak English, so it’s very hard to cold call property owners in Chinatown,” he said. “From a brokerage perspective, it is one of the areas that is very difficult to break into.”

Zoning rules that favor low-rise construction and a large concentration of rent-regulated buildings have also deterred investors, said Michael Tortorici, an executive vice president of Ariel Property Advisors, a commercial real estate brokerage.

Recent developments — including a…