Elizabeth Street Garden to remain as Adams administration drops housing fight

New York City leaders on Monday dropped their fight to turn the city-owned lot known as the Elizabeth Street Garden into affordable senior housing amid furious opposition from downtown residents, including a slew of celebrities.

First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro announced the decision to ditch the plan to add 123 units of affordable housing for seniors after roughly a decade of planning and lawsuits. The plan emerged as a symbol in a larger fight between “not in my backyard” community opposition to new housing developments and proponents of construction to address the city’s dire housing crisis.

The city’s housing agency issued an eviction notice to the operators of the Nolita garden in early March, which was first reported by Gothamist. Mayor Eric Adams — who spearheaded legislation last year that permits the construction of tens of thousands of new homes across the city — had long defended the plan to build housing on the garden's lot.

"The garden is a beautiful place but there's a great beauty to be able to house New Yorkers," the mayor said in October.

But Mastro quickly moved to block the new housing development after taking over as Adams' first deputy in March.

Mastro on Monday defended the decision to kill the project during a press briefing, saying City Councilmember Christopher Marte of Manhattan had agreed to support the rezoning of three other parcels that could pave the way for an even larger housing plan that would bring more than 600 new apartments to the area. Those new units include a pitch to add housing at 100 Gold St., site of the city’s housing agency, which the city announced in January.

"This is an example of how the government should work, working together to find solutions that are a win-win for both sides,” Mastro said. “This is called using your heart and your head.”

Mastro said the city will also attempt to rezone lots at 156-166 Bowery and 22 Suffolk St. He did not say whether the garden proprietors would have to pay back-rent they owe the city for using the lot.

But the rezonings will take months of planning before each land-use review process can begin, and all are subject to change. The process could drag on for years and is all but certain to outlast Adams’ first term, which ends after this year.

"Since the beginning of this fight almost a decade ago, we’ve been saying that we can save community gardens and build new affordable housing," Marte wrote in a statement.

The long-planned affordable housing project for the Elizabeth Street Garden site was called Haven Green and had included plans for an outdoor public green space.

Officials with the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development led the fight to kick the garden out of the space, with agency officials holding an unusual press conference to underline their case after the garden won a last-minute stay on their eviction last October. Adams was steadfast in his commitment to letting plans for affordable housing move forward on the site.

That changed after Mastro entered City Hall as Adams’ new first deputy in the fallout of the dismissal of the federal corruption probe into his administration that resulted in the departure of several of his top deputies.

Mastro took interest in the garden, adding it to his suite of city projects alongside forcing Citi Bike to limit the speeds of its electric rides to 15 mph.

Garden organizers have demonstrated their own political savvy, launching a massive campaign that featured thousands of letters of support as well as endorsements from big-name celebrities who live downtown, like Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Patti Smith.

The backers of the garden also produced a voter’s guide based on candidates' support for the green space. The guide supports candidates like former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former state Assemblymember Michael Blake and opposes City Comptroller Brad Lander and state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani.

Advocates for more housing slammed Monday's announcement. Annemarie Gray, executive director of the organization Open New York, called the decision “shameful.”

“If there was any doubt already, the official policy of the Adams administration is that elite comfort is more important than sufficient homes for vulnerable elderly people,” she said. “After a dozen years of work from two administrations in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity, Eric Adams and Randy Mastro have decided to throw that all away.”

This story has been updated with additional information.