Gentrification in Chinatown (Chicago, Canton, Bridgeport: real estate, home, neighborhoods)

[ChiRatPatch0328]

Chicago's Chinatown has been booming based off of a lot of what I've read up on it. Is it in danger of gentrifying anytime soon? Where is it art in the process if that process has begun already?

[TBideon]

If by gentrifying you mean are white people moving there, the answer is generally no. Most of the real estate, residential and commercial, is still captured by those few Chinese families, and there are still plenty of hoodrats causing problems. So breathe easy.

If by gentrifying you mean is there a Starbucks, yes, there is one.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by TBideon

If by gentrifying you mean are white people moving there, the answer is generally no. Most of the real estate, residential and commercial, is still captured by those few Chinese families, and there are still plenty of hoodrats causing problems. So breathe easy.

If by gentrifying you mean is there a Starbucks, yes, there is one.

I'm not sure but isn't there a Starbucks on the moon now? Ok, I'll have to confirm that, but I will say that a Starbucks hasn't been a sign of gentrification for awhile now. They're pretty much everywhere, including Kabul, Afghanistan...

https://www.facebook.com/pages/categ...8324906234693/

As to actual gentrification, Chinatown is very expensive now, I know that. Not sure if this has impacted demographics. It's a pretty small area. But I would say pricewise, it is gentrified, yes.

[OyCrumbler]

I know that as prices rise and the population grows, a lot of the Chinese population has moved southwest, but has much of it moved southeast into the Douglas community area? Also, is there a colocation of other East and Southeast Asians to the area or is pretty much exclusively Chinese who make up the growing Asian population?

[Manigault]

Instead of outsiders moving into Chinatown, the number of Asians in the area is actually exploding. More Asians are in Bridgeport, the near south and in Bronzeville. It is rumored that the purchasers of Mayor Daley's boyhood home are Asian. So, if anything, Chinatown ix exploding not gentryfying.

[TBideon]

Northern Bronzeville (25th to 37th) has had an influx of ethnic Chinese. I don't believe there are other Asian ethnic groups to any notable degree.

[garyjohnyang]

There are concerns that the development of the 78 north of Ping Tom Park could accelerate gentrification in the area. One of the reasons Chicago Chinatown has grown relative to neighborhoods in SF & NYC is because the buffer zone between Chinatown and the Loop, and continuous immigration made it a community that was closed to developers. Now that land is being developed, and the Wells-Wentworth connector will directly link Chinatown’s “Main Street” to the Loop, there will be a lot more interest in the neighborhood.

That being said I think Chinatown is already gentrifying, just in less apparent ways. For example, there are many more Mainlanders in Chinatown than there were a decade or two ago. Up until recently you would see lots of well-dressed international students in Chinatown Square. For better or for worse, most of the new businesses in Chinatown seem to cater to a Mandarin-speaking clientele as opposed to the historically Cantonese population of the neighborhood.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by garyjohnyang

There are concerns that the development of the 78 north of Ping Tom Park could accelerate gentrification in the area. One of the reasons Chicago Chinatown has grown relative to neighborhoods in SF & NYC is because the buffer zone between Chinatown and the Loop, and continuous immigration made it a community that was closed to developers. Now that land is being developed, and the Wells-Wentworth connector will directly link Chinatown’s “Main Street” to the Loop, there will be a lot more interest in the neighborhood.

That being said I think Chinatown is already gentrifying, just in less apparent ways. For example, there are many more Mainlanders in Chinatown than there were a decade or two ago. Up until recently you would see lots of well-dressed international students in Chinatown Square. For better or for worse, most of the new businesses in Chinatown seem to cater to a Mandarin-speaking clientele as opposed to the historically Cantonese population of the neighborhood.

Maybe they should open up more area for Chinatown to expand into like by getting rid of Stevenson Expressway east of its interchange with Dan Ryan.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

Maybe they should open up more area for Chinatown to expand into like by getting rid of Stevenson Expressway east of its interchange with Dan Ryan.

And isolate the southwest side more? That makes sense. Not. Chicago does not end at 35th Street.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by BRU67

And isolate the southwest side more? That makes sense. Not. Chicago does not end at 35th Street.

Isolate it? I’m talking about the southeast side, not the southwest. Basically have a continuous street grid to allow the near south side to continue on down in and around the lakefront.