(WXYZ) — Detroit city leaders were joined by state leaders on Monday to announce new funding for Detroit's historic Chinatown neighborhood.
Sens. Stephanie Chang, Sarah Anthony and Mary Cavanagh gathered to announced the $1 million in funding for streetscape improvements and an infusion of Chinese American-inspired elements to Peterboro St.
The location is the heart of the former Chinatown community in Detroit.
The $1 million from the state budget will be administered by Midtown Detroit Inc., and initial plans involve removing and replacing the streetscape.
Other plans include creating an ornate gateway plaza to welcome visitors, and other potential additions include special pavement, outdoor dining elements, special lighting and creative landscaping that will reflect the history, art & culture of the Chinese-American community.
“Detroit’s Chinatown has a vibrant history that must not be forgotten and is embedded in a neighborhood eager for more community-driven investment and improved quality of life,” Chang said in a statement. “This new state funding is a crucial step in preserving Chinatown’s rich history for our local Chinese American and Asian American community as well as Detroiters."
According to the officials, the announcement was on the one-year anniversary of the city's demolition of the historic 140-year-old Chinese Merchant Association building, which was located at 3143 Cass Ave.
That building first served as a residential space for Chinese immigrants, and then was a social and recreational hub for Asian-Americans.
“My dad, the late Henry Yee, was the unofficial Mayor of Detroit’s Chinatown for many years and I grew up working at our family restaurant, The Forbidden City (which stood at 3148 Second Avenue in Detroit’s second Chinatown which had been relocated there in the 1960s when the Lodge Freeway was built through the original Chinatown),” said Lisa Yee-Litzenberg who recently joined the Detroit Chinatown Vision Committee.
“We have begun a transformation process in an area of our city which possesses rich Chinese history and culture,” said Maureen Stapleton, the interim executive director of Midtown Detroit, Inc., said in a statement.
