The city government is committing an additional $90 million to rebuild and preserve 70 Mulberry Street, an iconic Chinatown building that housed collections from the Museum of Chinese in America, and which was seriously damaged in a fire in early 2020. 

The additional funding brings the city’s total investment in the building - which served as a public school, P.S. 23, for a century, and is now the home of several nonprofits - to $170 million. 

It will allow the building to add two additional stories, as well an auditorium, and preserve its historic facade, Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a Tuesday morning news conference. 

“The community wanted more, and the community deserves more,” he said.

The three-alarm fire that damaged the building took nearly 24 hours to contain, and destroyed some of the tens of thousands of unique historical documents relating to the history of Chinatown. 

It came just before the Chinese New Year, in January 2020, disrupting dozens of businesses and nonprofits located there weeks before the pandemic descended on the city and saw its first impacts in a cratering of foot traffic in Chinatown. 

City Council member Margaret Chin, who attended the now-closed P.S. 23 as a student, welcomed the additional investment. 

“We’re just looking forward to a really bright future,” she said.