Vacant Chinatown OTB To Become Chase Bank

CHINATOWN, NY — A long-vacant Off Track Betting office in Chinatown is to become a Chase Bank, the financial institution said.

The storefront at 7-8 Chatham Square, which still has large “OTB” letters above its front door, has sat vacant since the Off Track Betting Corporation closed its doors in 2010.

“We’re always looking to open new branches where it makes sense, especially in high-growth, high foot-traffic areas,” Gregg Kleinbaum, the New York City regional director for Chase, told Patch in a statement. “We’re excited about this location and looking forward to serving customers in the neighborhood.”

Kleinbaum added Chase plans to open in April.

The Chinatown OTB was the most profitable branch in the city, said Wellington Chen, executive director of the Chinatown Partnership.

Moreover, it was part of the fabric of the Chinatown neighborhood, Chen said.

“The OTB is an illustration of part of the reason why Chinatown is the way it is,” Chen said.

Before Chinatown buses ferried gamblers from the neighborhood to casinos in Connecticut and Yonkers, Chen said, people came to shops like the Chatham Square OTB to place bets.

“And those people who came down to gamble, used to eat, used to have late-night meals, used to have take-out food and that’s what created the vibrant nightlife,” he said.

The building also features an underground tunnel that leads to Doyers Street, which runs behind the location, Chen said. Chinatown tunnels were notorious for being used by street gangs as escape routes in the early and mid 20th Century.

Photo credit: Ben Feuerherd