Near Philadelphia's Chinatown, 51 New Homes

RED-paper scraps from firecrackers heralding the Chinese New Year had barely been swept up from the streets last month when the first of 51 families moved into a new town-house complex that expands Chinatown beyond its traditional seven blocks.

The $7 million project is viewed by many as the first stage in an extension of Chinatown's northern, or Vine Street, edge. South of Vine there are restaurants and shops with apartments above. North of it there are industrial properties and factories.

On a property bounded by Callowhill, Vine, Eighth and Ninth Street -- land set aside at various times for a major roadway project and later for a Federal prison -- Chinatown's community leaders managed to secure a site for four rows of brick town houses surrounding a central parking lot.

Fifteen three-story, two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath homes in one long row were sold at market prices as high as $163,000, said Ray Desiderio, senior vice president of PNC Bank Community Development Department, which provided $4.6 million in loans for the overall project. In addition, he noted, there are eight subsidized apartments in the same row.

Across the parking lot and central garden, three rows with a total of 28 apartments supported by Federal subsidies were sold to low- and moderate-income first-time home buyers at prices as low as $56,000, he said. Although similar in exterior style, the town houses have two apartments, one with two floors, the other a simplex.

More firecrackers were lit on Feb. 20 to ward off bad luck for the complex, which is called Hing Wah Yuen, meaning Prosperous Chinese Garden.

The homes have splendid views of the city's skyline to the southwest over the grade-level, six-lane Vine Street Expressway leading to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge on the Delaware River.

To help mute the roar of traffic on the bordering Vine Street Expressway the complex has a grass berm separating it from the artery, stairs and bathrooms were placed closest to the street and triple-paned windows were provided for windows that face the traffic, said John Hayes, a principal of Blackney-Hayes Architects of Philadelphia.

''There are curved parapets that are common to the arches found in China, but these are really traditional Philadelphia town houses,'' Mr. Hayes said.

THROUGHOUT the 20th century, community development projects have defined Chinatown's boundaries. Ramps leading onto the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, which links the city with Camden, N.J., were built at the enclave's northern edge in the 20's.

A generation later, city officials condemned land east of what is now Chinatown to create Independence Mall, a new headquarters for the city's Police Department and a large hospital, vacant for five years. In the 70's and 80's, construction of the Market East Station for commuter rail trains created a southern border on Filbert Street.

And the Pennsylvania Convention Center, opened in 1993, took away Chinatown buildings along Arch Street as far north as 13th Street.

''The Vine Street Expressway and the City Commuter Tunnel [a railroad underpass that can bear little construction on top of it] separated these sites from Chinatown,'' said Ignatius Wang, president of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, which spearheaded the eight-year effort to develop the town houses. ''This project reunites these homes with the community.''

Hing Wah Yuen's homes are across the street from the Roman Catholic Holy Redeemer Church and School, a leading Chinatown institution that was built in 1941. The church lost much of its school yard to the Vine Street Expressway construction in the 90's.

Nearby small brick homes sit alongside industrial warehouses and garages, food wholesalers, gas stations and auto-parts yards.

Simply acquiring the property for the homes took six years because of complex negotiations with a variety of Federal, state and local agencies, said Cecilia Moy Yep, executive director of the Chinatown Development Corporation.

The corporation, which was founded in 1968, already has plans for more housing and other facilities nearby.

''We have the next phase across the street to get rid of the eyesores and assemble the parcel at 10th and Vine for a community center,'' she said. ''There are no public facilities in our community, no public school, library or public health center. But we do have a group of people who have to be in Chinatown to live independently because of the language. That's caused an increase in population and the number of children in the area.''

The new homes have caused owners of surrounding properties to raise the asking prices for their properties, said Ms. Yep. So she is first negotiating for parcels controlled by the city and the state's Department of Transportation, she said.

Chinatown in Philadelphia dates to the mid-19th century when restaurants and laundries started by Cantonese immigrants opened not far from the city's commercial wharves. A 40-foot-tall ornate Asian gate at 10th and Arch Streets is the official entrance to Chinatown. The seven-block core now is home primarily to new immigrants.

Many of the estimated 4,000 residents work in the more than 50 restaurants, clothing-assembly companies or related suppliers clustered nearby. Though it is smaller than its counterparts in New York or San Francisco, Chinatown remains a magnet where people who have moved out return to eat, shop or work, Ms. Yep added.

IN recent years, restaurants and businesses serving other Asian immigrants, including Thais, Vietnamese and Koreans, have emerged in Chinatown and a thriving Vietnamese enclave has taken root a half mile south adjacent to a longtime Italian immigrant community in South Philadelphia. But Chinatown's residents have remained predominantly Chinese because of the language and shared culture, Ms. Yep said.

Center City has about 47,000 residents, according to the 1990 census, and a median income of $60,000. Yet the median family income in Chinatown is under $15,000, the census reported.

Although there are small vacant buildings or open lots in Chinatown itself, there is not enough financing to support new residential construction, said Michael Barmash, a vice president at Colliers/Lanard & Axilbund, a Philadelphia real estate company.

But Mr. Barmash noted that owners of a 100,000-square-foot factory building near Hing Wah Yuen plan to convert it into artists' studios to accommodate students and others at the nearby Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Mr. Barmash said that underused factory buildings west of the Hing Wah Yuen complex might be converted into apartments, since the citywide rental market is tight. He also said that they could be converted to offices, noting that Asian companies often paid a premium to get commercial space in or near Chinatown because of the access to the workers and suppliers there.

''Chinatown is spreading outside its traditional boundaries,'' said Mr. Barmash. ''And once a building is in Asian hands, it rarely leaves. There is a pride of ownership there and people spend money on improvements. That's something the city wants to see more of because of the activity.''

Indeed, pedestrians are out on well-lighted streets at most any hour because of nightclubs and restaurants that stay open late. And the work day starts early with deliveries. Interest in Chinatown is so keen that a local restaurateur, Joseph Poon, has sold out his walking tours on Sunday mornings that begin with a dim sum breakfast and include a visit to noodle factories and fortune-cookie makers.