By James Tabafunda
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Quynh Pham (left) and Jared Jonson (Photo by James Tabafunda)
A center for local Vietnamese and Vietnamese American residents requires more than just an address in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. Both groups look to this cultural hub as a welcoming space for all that elicits positive feelings, the kind that result from the interaction of the five senses.
They gathered at the Nisei Veterans Committee Memorial Hall on Apr. 6 for a Landmark Project Community Meeting. The Landmark Project is a joint effort by the Friends of Little Sài Gòn (FLS) in partnership with the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDpda).
The meeting provided an opportunity to gather both broad input and community support.
The vision for the Landmark Project came from the Little Saigon 2020 Action Plan created in 2012. The project has four goals: community ownership and control, cultural services and programs, economic opportunities, and affordable housing.
This project is a mixed-use development that includes a cultural center, and a Southeast Asian supermarket and restaurant. One of its impacts on the neighborhood will be the availability of 71 units (six floors) of affordable housing above the 7,500-square-foot Vietnamese Cultural and Economic Center, which the FLS will own and manage.
Small-group discussion table of Vietnamese elders (Photo by James Tabafunda)
Residents’ senses of touch and sight will be engaged each time a doorknob is used to enter much-needed living space.
“SCIDpda is a partner on the housing side,” said SCIDpda’s co-executive director Jared Jonson. “We know that the affordable housing need is there. The caveat with SCIDpda development perspective is we are pushing for more family-sized housing. That means more two bedrooms, more three bedrooms, more four bedrooms. Sixty-six percent of this project will be three-bedroom and four-bedroom units.”
“And for us in our community and I’m talking about the broader AAPI community, our households are intergenerational.”
“It’s important to build a high volume of affordable housing units. We need the right type of units to serve our community, and we think those are larger three- and four-bedroom units.”
Qualifications for affordable housing typically require that an individual’s or household’s income falls within 30 percent to 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI).
Along with the Landmark Project’s main partners, other shareholders include Little Saigon residents, organizations, business owners and a diverse group of funders. Architectural firms Mithun designed the building and its residential units, and SKL Architects designed its community center. Edge Developers’ commitment is to build spaces that contribute to the community.
Last year, the FLS acquired the project site at the intersection of South Jackson Street and 10th Avenue South.
The Landmark Project’s funding is supported by the Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development’s Equitable Development Initiative, King County’s Office of Performance, Strategy, and Budget, and a Community Project Funding grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“We would only be able to make this project happen with the support of our public funders,” said FLS Executive Director Quynh Pham. “State Allocation for Community Projects. Thank you, Representative Sharon Tomiko Santos and Senator Rebecca Saldana.”
Ongoing fundraising to reach the project’s $40 million target continues to be a challenge.
Another challenge is displacement. Both the Dong Hing Market and Asia Pacific Wholesale remain open for business at the project site until construction begins. The FLS is providing them with relocation help, prioritizing their continued presence in the Chinatown-International District.
The community meeting featured small-group conversations to answer two questions: What kind of programming would make you want to visit the Vietnamese Cultural and Economic Center? How can the Vietnamese Cultural and Economic Center reflect Vietnamese culture in Seattle?
Safe spaces, youth spaces, night-time (after 8 p.m.) and family-oriented activities like Lunar New Year celebrations are just some of the suggestions from community members. Karaoke, open-mic nights, film screenings, and plays engage the senses of sight and hearing.
Vietnamese cooking classes would activate students’ senses of sight, taste, and smell and stir up memories of family gatherings. When one group recommended Vietnamese food-eating contests, meeting attendees laughed.
Photography of Vietnamese seniors and art exhibits would engage people’s sense of sight.
Intergenerational training for small businesses and entrepreneurs was also suggested by a group, leading to an even more valuable opportunity. “There’s always, well, a lot of programming and activities. The youth are thinking about what they enjoy, but I think one of the issues is that both sides – our elders and our youth – want to have a sense of connection with the other half,” Pham said.
“It’s very obvious in their recommendations. They are asking for spaces where they can intermingle and also share their stories with each other. And so, that was just really touching to me to hear.”
“Sometimes, we really have to put in the work to make sure that we have welcoming and very curated spaces so that our community can come together or else, it just doesn’t happen.”
Elena Arakaki, a graduate student in urban planning and public health at the University of Washington, started last October to develop and support a community engagement plan for the Landmark Project.
“I started by doing some background research on cultural centers in the area. And then starting at the beginning of 2024, I started getting into the methods implementation and launched a survey. This is my final method to get feedback.”
Arakaki added, “Here in the Vietnamese community, it was really good to have some elder representation. A lot of intergenerational thoughts have come up through these conversations, too. People want to have a space where we can connect to younger and older generations and having a physical space where those kinds of activities can happen is really important. That doesn’t currently exist in Little Saigon.”
One group recommended the Emerald Night Market feature pop-ups for small vendors and new entrepreneurs.
Arakaki said, “That’s a goal of the center, too, to have some of those opportunities to sell crafts or at the Little Saigon Creative. Right now, there is a small business pop-up where they have local vendors have their jewelry or crafts there, and it’s a rotating thing. So we’re hoping something similar can also happen.”
As for the second question on how the community center can reflect Vietnamese culture in Seattle, one group made up exclusively of elders who preferred speaking Vietnamese recommended signage that is inviting, traditional Vietnamese landscape design, and exhibits about national heroes and historical artifacts. For example, Dong Son Drums are evidence of advanced bronze casting techniques that were used around 600 BC in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam.
They also recommended an ancestral altar that represents profound respect and honor for deceased family members.
The Seattle City Council adopted Resolution 31403 on Sep. 4, 2012 following significant support from the FLS and its partners. This resolution directed the City of Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development, Office of Housing, Office of Economic Development, and Seattle Housing Authority to work with the FLS to evaluate the feasibility of a “Landmark Project” in Little Saigon.
“I know gentrification, displacement are huge issues. How do we preserve our heritage, our cultural spaces, and have a built environment, a place to call home, especially a place the community can have and share and be able to meet and gather? I think it’s really important in preserving the Little Saigon neighborhood as well as having the Friends of Little Sài Gòn preserve that aspect of culture and heritage and help all of the small businesses in this region,” said Seattle City Councilmember Tanya Woo, a participant in the small-group conversations.
Arakaki said, “I think there’s so much potential in the center, and it’s something that the community has been wanting for a long time, and it’s finally happening.”
Her interest in the project is the social connection aspect.
“The intersection that I really see is there is social cohesion and how being connected with our neighbors in our community really leads to more resilient, thriving neighborhoods. And I think this physical space is so important in fostering that and creating more bonds and connections.”
This phase of getting community input “gets us permit ready and gets us ready to find and identify public and private sources of funding to construct the project itself,” Jonson said.
Active engagement with the Vietnamese and Vietnamese American communities and other stakeholders will continue through 2024. Feedback from this community meeting will be incorporated into the Landmark Project’s programming, design, public art, and naming.
The next event is a presentation to the International Special Review District Board.
“I encourage you to attend this meeting to learn more about the building design inspiration,” said Pham. “There will be a follow-up community meeting in the fall, and we hope you will join us again.”
The project’s timeline also has construction starting in late 2025 and completion in 2027.
For more information about the Landmark Project, visit flsseattle.org/what-we-do/economic-development/landmark-project.
James Tabafunda can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.