The owner of Chinatown's Vietnam Palace plans to close
the restaurant for the construction of a seven-story apartment building at the
site and to reopen about a year later on the new structure's ground floor. A
closing date has not yet been set.
Demolition of the restaurant building on the west side of
11th Street, between Race and Vine Streets, will likely begin in about a year,
Simon Lau said Tuesday.
Lau agreed to set aside two of the building's 18
apartments for lower-income renters in exchange for permission to include more
units in the project than otherwise would be allowed under the area's zoning,
according to Sarah Yeung, planning director for Philadelphia Chinatown
Development Corp.
The agreement required a variance from the city's Zoning
Board of Adjustment since the proposed building — like most in densely built-up
Chinatown — does not have enough street frontage to qualify for the
mixed-income-housing density bonus under existing regulations, said Yeung,
whose group advocated for the exception.
Source: Philly.com
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