A sliver of hope has emerged for a flagging Chinatown mall beneath the Manhattan Bridge.
What was once a bustling avenue for shoppers and visiting tourists at the heart of Chinatown, the East Broadway Mall is left now with vacant glass panels, hinged on the survival of its last crop of storefronts.
The second-level banquet hall that once teemed with vibrant life is a skeleton of its previous construct with even its elevators blocked off, reported THE CITY.
The present lease operator filed for bankruptcy in 2019 and has since grappled with making rent payments to the city on time. In October 2021, ABC 7 NYC reported that the mall was at risk of closing after being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Monday, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services announced it holds a tentative agreement with a new operator who plans to renovate the mall and support existing tenants.
The Manhattan Borough Board must still approve the motion. If all goes to plan at the scheduled meeting on Sept. 27, Broadway East Group LLC will have to first repay some of the dividends the city lost over the pandemic, THE CITY reports.
The new developer will be given 16 months to invest $5 million into restoration efforts and must compensate the city and Bank of Hope, where the current operator owns a mortgage.
“We’re putting a big investment and hoping to maintain the Chinatown culture, and maintain a restaurant in Chinatown to cater parties and banquets and things like that,” said Bill Lam, a principal member of the new leaseholder, to THE CITY.
(Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly understated the number of months the new developer will be given for restoration efforts by one year. We regret the error).
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