New Library Branch in Chinatown Will Include Spaces for Affordable Housing

A new public library and affordable housing are part of a new development targeted for Boston's Chinatown neighborhood. 

The new branch of the Boston Public Library, located at 55 Hudson St., will be the city's first permanent public library branch in Chinatown in more than 60 years. The library will occupy the bottom two floors of a 12-story mixed-use development building. Affordable rental and subsidized condominium units will occupy the rest of the building, according to a Boston Globe report.

On Wednesday, Sept. 17, city leaders and community officials celebrated the project's beginning at a groundbreaking ceremony.

“Chinatown has always deserved a permanent library branch, and today, after all these decades, we are finally taking the steps to make that real,” said Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who spoke at a park across the street from the development during the groundbreaking ceremony. “We are using every resource possible to make sure that Boston rises to the challenge of this moment, returning the long-overdue library branch to Chinatown, while also tackling the region's housing crisis.”

According to the Globe, the project has officially been in the planning stages since 2021. At that time, the Boston Planning Department released a request for proposals for the site. 

As the Globe noted, the former Chinatown library, located on Tyler Street, a block from the new development project, was demolished during the 1950s to make room for the old Central Artery. This structure carried Interstate 93 over the city. Boston opened a temporary library branch for the neighborhood at the China Trade Center on Boylston Street in 2018. The Central Artery was demolished in the 2000s as part of the city's Big Dig.

“Seventy years ago, Hudson Street was a vibrant and tight-knit immigrant community,” said Angie Liou, executive director of the Asian Community Development Corporation, in a statement made during the groundbreaking ceremony. Liou's organization is the nonprofit developer leading the project. “If it were not for the organizing of long-time activists ... we would not have reclaimed these parcels for community uses.”

According to the Globe, the Chinatown redevelopment project is tapping into funding from more than 20 sources, including city, state, and federal government funds.