87 Tyler St. (Chinatown Community Education Center)

briv

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This is a relatively small project going up behind NE Medical. I was surprised when I stumbled across its construction site today because I'd never heard anything about it before. It's located at the former parking lot directly adjacent to the new Tufts building on Harrison Ave.

This rendering from the AACA site is the only one I could find:

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Here's the BRA press release from Oct. 2005:

Chinatown Community Education Center Receives Approval

The BRA Board also approved the Chinatown Community Education Center project, located at 87 Tyler Street in Chinatown. The vacant parcel, currently owned by the BRA, will soon be the new home for two Chinatown non-profit organizations, the Asian American Civic Association (AACA) and the Kwong Kow Chinese School. The development plans call for the construction of a six-story building consisting of approximately 41,650 gross square feet.

The new building will be a two-unit commercial condominium, with each organization owning its unit and sharing in the common costs of the building. The proposed allocation of space would be approximately 23,740 square feet of space for use by AACA and approximately 17,910 square feet of space for use by Kwong Kow. The project will include a day care center, function room space, classrooms, and office space for AACA and its Chinese-language newspaper, a publication distributed in Boston and the surrounding community.

AACA assists Asian immigrants by providing English literacy, college preparation, job training, and other services. Kwong Kow has been providing Chinese culture and language education to children for almost 90 years. Kwong Kow, currently operating at 90 Tyler Street, provides after school programs, academic support, recreational activities and Chinese language and cultural classes for 600 children from Chinese families annually.

Total project cost is $11 million.


Also, for anyone interested, HERE is a somewhat interesting old Sampan article relating a bit of the history leading to the building's inception.
 
New Chinatown Education Center Celebrates Topping Off of Building
Feb 16, 2007
by Adam Smith


Cameras flashed. Crowds rushed in front of slowed traffic. Autograph signings were the act of the day.

A celebrity sighting in Chinatown? Not quite. The much-eyed attraction in this case was not a person. It was a large, white steel I-beam. But this was not just any piece of heavy metal. It was the final steel beam that -- after getting autographed by dozens of Chinatown community leaders and educators -- topped off the construction of the steel and concrete frame of the Chinatown Community Education Center.

The new center, which is expected to be completed later this year, will house two longtime Chinatown nonprofits, the Asian American Civic Association, publisher of the Sampan, and the Kwong Kow Chinese School.

The topping-off ceremony on January 24 drew about 100 people, who celebrated the six-story building's construction at 87 Tyler St.

The $13 million center will mark one of the few buildings in Chinatown built in recent years exclusively for social service use.

The Asian American Civic Association, which turns 40 this year, provides low-cost and sometimes free classes in English literacy and job-skills training. The agency has programs to prepare immigrant and low-income minorities for vocational and office work, higher education, and offers immigration counseling, job-placement, and other services. It serves more than 6,000 people annually. In addition, the association has published the Sampan newspaper since 1972. The Kwong Kow Chinese School, which just marked its 90th birthday, teaches children Chinese language, martial arts, and other arts such as dance and music.

"It will serve the community," said Frank Chin, a longtime community leader, of the Chinatown Community Educational Center.

He said that the new building would allow the two groups to focus on programs and classes and not on maintaining and locating rental space.
Long subject to the whims of landlords, both groups have struggled over the past decades to find and keep suitable space for classes and other programs.

"The Asian American Civic Association doesn't have to keep looking for space, and the Kwong Kow Chinese School will [be able to focus on] becoming an accredited language school," said Chin, who has been involved in several Chinatown associations.

Reggie Wong, a Chinatown businessman agreed. "It's a big asset to the community," Wong said of the new building. "It shows that money is being well spent."

Wong, who attended the Kwong Kow Chinese School in the 1950s, said he received the first honorary diploma from the school in 1999. He currently is a board member of the Chinese school.

Paying for the building has been a struggle for the groups, especially for the Asian American Civic Association, which is still trying to meet its fundraising goals.

The groups have received a bulk of their funds from private fundraising campaigns, financing help from the City of Boston and private banks such as Wainwright Bank and Trust Company, as well as tax credit programs.

Mary Chin, president of the Asian American Civic Association, called the topping-off ceremony a milestone for the agencies, who at times were unsure if the building would ever get built.

Standing in front of the brick-and-steel skeleton of the new center, Chin said: "We're really psyched about this new home."



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