Construction has broken ground on 70 Mulberry Street, an eight-story community facility in Chinatown, Manhattan. Designed by Grimshaw Architects, the structure will serve five local organizations and will house a Chinatown cultural center. The $184 million project will incorporate portions of the existing structure, which was damaged in a 2020 fire, and will increase its public service capacity by 30 percent. The property is located at the northeast corner of Mulberry and Bayard Streets, diagonally across from Columbus Park.
CPC Chinatown Senior Citizen Center, United East Athletic Association, Chen Dance Center, Museum of Chinese in America, and Chinatown Manpower Project all occupied the facility prior to the fire and are slated to resume operations at the new building. Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined other city officials at the groundbreaking ceremony on November 9.
Renderings preview a design that blends modern aesthetics with elements of the original 19th-century structure. The corner stairwell and brick and stone façade of the first two stories will be retained, and will be flanked by a reflective photovoltaic envelope with a grid of ribbon windows. A setback at the sixth floor is shown topped with a landscaped terrace, and the structure will culminate in a flat roof with a solar canopy.
The facility will contain six community rooms, including two on the top floor that can be combined into a larger space. A kitchen will serve the senior center, and a multipurpose room on the sixth floor will accommodate performances, sports, cultural events, receptions, banquets, and will provide access to the terraces overlooking Columbus Park. The entire facility has a capacity of 475 people.
70 Mulberry Street. Designed by Grimshaw Architects.
The following photos show Wings of Everchange 易之翼, a three-part art installation by artist Jennifer Wen Ma that will connect the building’s history with Chinatown’s present and future through sculpture, paintings, and oral history. The 33-foot-long suspended sculpture will be made of metal, glass, and objects salvaged from the 2020 fire, with amber glass orbs will serve as time capsules, each dedicated to a person or group, containing memories and stories about 70 Mulberry Street. An ink painting on glass panels will also be installed along the stairwell.
Wings of Everchange 易之翼. Photo by Jennifer Wen Ma.
Wings of Everchange 易之翼. Photo by Jennifer Wen Ma.
The following Google Street View image shows the current conditions of the structure.
70 Mulberry Street, circa April 2026. Image via Google Maps.
The façade and rooftop photovoltaic installations are expected to generate up to 410 megawatt-hours of electricity annually, meeting up to 30 percent of the building’s annual electricity demand. 70 Mulberry Street is being engineered to achieve LEED Platinum certification and will prioritize low-embodied-carbon construction, setting targets for the implementation of reused and locally sourced materials.
70 Mulberry Street was originally designed by C.B.J Snyder and constructed in 1892, first serving as Public School 23. It was converted into a community center following the school’s closure in the mid-1970s.
The nearest subways from the site are the N, Q, R, W, and 6 trains at the Canal Street station to the north.
70 Mulberry Street’s anticipated completion date is slated for 2030.
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