March 06, 2026
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Customers at six Chinatown restaurants can get a voucher for $5 parking at the Autopark Fashion District garage as part of a partnership between the Philadelphia Parking Authority and the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp. Above, the Chinatown Friendship Gate at 10th and Arch streets.
People who drive to Chinatown and go to one of six neighborhood businesses can now get vouchers for $5 parking at a garage near the Fashion District mall.
The parking program is an expanding partnership between the Philadelphia Parking Authority and the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp., a decades-old nonprofit that serves the neighborhood. The vouchers were tested with a few places in recent years and could soon grow to include more businesses.
"Parking has always been an issue for Chinatown businesses," said Haoyi Shang, who manages business relations for PCDC. "Over the years, we've heard from business owners that customers are complaining that it's very difficult to find cheap street parking. We do have garages and lots around town, but they tend to be quite expensive."
The PPA program lets customers park their cars in the Autopark Fashion District lot at 44 N. Ninth Street. Once they patronize any of the six businesses below, they can receive a voucher that applies the discount when they leave the garage. The voucher is valid for up to three hours of parking.
• Sang Kee Peking Duck House – 238 N. 9th St.
• EMei — 915 Arch St.
• TingTing’s – 125 N. 11th St.
• Bai Wei – 1038 Race St.
• Yamitsuki – 1028 Arch St.
• Happy DIY – 118 N. 9th St.
Shang explained parking in Chinatown is made difficult by competition from events at the nearby Pennsylvania Convention Center.
"The Flower Show is happening now, and (there's something) every weekend, so all the parking and the lots are basically packed," she said.
Even when lots and garages are open, customers often pay rates as high as $10 to $15 per hour. Metered street parking in Chinatown typically has a two-hour limit and goes to three hours after 4 p.m.
Store owners tell PCDC they are seeing increased competition from Chinese restaurants and supermarkets in Northeast Philly, South Philly and the suburbs. Dim sum restaurants that regularly host banquets in Chinatown have lost some business to competitors in places that are more accessible to customers who drive.
The PPA program is inspired by a similar discount in Chicago, where dozens of participating businesses validate parking tickets for customers who use the neighborhood's Chinatown Parking Corp. lot.
"We do hope we can include more businesses in the future, especially all the ones that do banquets," Shang said. "I do want to take it slowly to see how businesses handle this and how PCDC is able to manage it."
Shang said she's hearing from a growing number of restaurant owners who say costs are rising as food prices climb, and it has made it harder to keep their menus affordable for customers.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation named Philadelphia's Chinatown — now more than 150 years old — one of the country's 11 most endangered historic places in 2023. That was in the midst of the Philadelphia 76ers' push to build an arena along the neighborhood's southern border, replacing part of the Fashion District mall.
The team has since abandoned those plans in favor of an arena partnership with Comcast Spectacor – the owner of the Flyers — to build a new venue at the Sports Complex in South Philly. Part of that joint venture includes developing properties the 76ers acquired along East Market Street, raising similar questions about how those plans could impact Chinatown and other neighborhoods nearby.
Shang said the prolonged debate about the arena ended up raising awareness about affordability concerns, lack of green space, declining foot traffic and other issues affecting Chinatown.
"I think a lot of the issues had been discussed pretty thoroughly," she said.
