File:Asia Plaza - Asiatown Cleveland.jpg

English: Asia Plaza, an Asian-themed mini-mall located at 2999 Payne Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. The mall helped create what is now Asiatown, the Asian enclave in Cleveland.

There are two structures here, which are linked.

The first is at 1550-1557 E. 27th Street. The Electric Sanitary Laundry (a residential laundry service) was incorporated in 1913. In 1916, it leased a plant here. (There had been two houses here in 1912, so the plant was built some time between 1912 and 1916.) Benco Manufacturing replaced the laundry in this facility in 1944. Fenn College occupied the building from 1964 to 1966, and then it was purchased by the Balas Collet Co. in 1966. The building was purchased by the Greater Cleveland Community Food Bank in 1982, and sold to Willie Lee Hom probably in 2004.

The other structure is 2999 Payne Avenue. It was built about 1945. From 1979 to 1987, it was home to Monroe Distributing, a vending machine and equipment leasing company with links to the Cleveland Mafia. Hall One Imports, a firm which sold Chinese merchandise, took over the structure in 1987. The structure was renovated by the Greater Cleveland Asian-Pacific Development Corp. in 1989. The ground floor became a pastry shop, restaurant, and retail, while the upper floor became office space. In 1990, the firm changed its name to Global Approach.

Asia Plaza was the vision of Willie Lee Hom. A Youngstown-born Chinese-American trained as a civil engineer, he started the King Wah Restaurant in Rocky River in 1973 and opened the Ho Wah Chinese Restaurant in Beachwood in 1979.

Hom purchased 2999 Payne Avenue in 1990. William Dorsky Associates oversaw the $2.5 million renovation of the 57,000 square foot space. Hom opened his third restaurant, Li Wah, when Asia Plaza opened in 1991. Asia Plaza consists of 13 retail stoes on the first floor, with office space on the second.

Global Approach Food Store occupies the former food bank space at 1557 E. 29th.