The long dispute over Elizabeth Street Garden might come close to the conclusion. The city of New York is dealing with the three builders selected in 2017 through a public call to build on Elizabeth Street Garden, to close the cause born after the cancellation of the project. In the middle of the negotiation there is another municipal plot, at 22 Suffolk Street, on the Lower East Side, where more than 180 affordable apartments could be made. The parties will return before the judge on Thursday, August 13th.
To understand why the builders have sued, you have to go back a few years. Elizabeth Street Garden occupies a land owned by the city between Elizabeth and Mott Street, in Nolita, used since the 1990s as a garden and public space.
In 2017, Bill de Blasio’s administration chose that lot for Haven Green, a social building project entrusted to Pennrose, RiseBoro Community Partnership and Habitat for Humanity New York City. The project planned to build a residential building instead of the garden, preserving a part of the area as a new public green space.
Haven Green provided 123 affordable apartments for the elderly, a part of which was intended for people previously homeless, as well as commercial spaces and community. The project was approved by the City Council in 2019, but was challenged by Elizabeth Street Garden, Inc., the non-profit organization that manages space, and met with the opposition of residents and numerous groups in the neighborhood.
Opponents argued that the construction would eliminate one of the few publicly accessible green spaces in the area and asked the city to use other land to build housing. The dispute reached the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, which in June 2024 rejected the appeal against the project, allowing the city to proceed.
At that point Elizabeth Street Garden seemed destined to disappear in its present form. The city also initiated procedures to free the land. In June 2025, however, the change of route came: mayor Eric Adams announced an agreement to preserve the garden and build housing on other Lower Manhattan lands. In return, counsellor Christopher Marte pledged to support the urban changes needed to achieve more than 620 affordable housing on three sites, more than five times the 123 provided by Haven Green.
The decision saved the garden but left out the three developers who had worked for years in Haven Green and had now obtained the necessary permissions to build it. The dispute with the builders continued until this year. Now a possible solution passes from 22 Suffolk Street, a municipal plot on the Lower East Side. According to Gothamist, the city could assign it to Pennrose, Habitat for Humanity NYC and RiseBoro; City Hall claims that more than 180 affordable apartments could be built on the site.
Suffolk Street is one of three places identified in the 2025 agreement to compensate for the cancellation of Haven Green. The others are 156-166 Bowery and 100 Gold Street.
If the agreement on Suffolk Street will be concluded, the builders could then renounce the judicial battle on Elizabeth Street Garden and make elsewhere a greater number of accommodation than those provided for in the original project. The garden would be in place.
Not everyone considers this outcome a success. For those who defended Elizabeth Street Garden it would prove that it was possible to preserve one of the few green spaces in the area and build more houses elsewhere. Haven Green’s supporters point out that the 123 apartments already approved in 2019 have never been built, while those proposed to replace still exist only on paper. It is the issue that will remain open even if cities and developers will find an agreement on Thursday.
L’articolo A new deal could close the long battle on Elizabeth Street Garden proviene da IlNewyorkese.
