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The Elizabeth Street Garden gets two more weeks to avoid an eviction
By
Liam Quigley
Published Oct 16, 2024
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By
Liam Quigley
Published Oct 16, 2024
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The Elizabeth Street Garden has won two more weeks to avoid eviction.
A last-minute stay the Manhattan garden received Wednesday means that a city marshal won’t be able to padlock the gates on Thursday as expected.
It’s the latest move in a yearslong battle over the beloved SoHo green space that the city wants to turn into affordable housing for seniors. Advocates who want to save the garden say there are better spaces for a new building. But city officials, backed by Mayor Eric Adams, have called those claims disingenuous.
“There are thousands of older New Yorkers, New Yorkers of every shape, form, size and background in shelters tonight,” Ahmed Tigani, first deputy commissioner for the Housing Preservation and Development agency, said Wednesday at an unusual last-minute press conference. “It's all too easy to fight affordable housing in New York City.”
The clamor over the Elizabeth Street Garden, which is publicly owned but managed by a nonprofit, has risen in recent weeks after years in the making. Some have argued that the garden wasn't truly made available to the public until the city floated plans to develop the site into affordable housing a decade ago.
Joseph Reiver, the garden’s executive director, said the space has robust support from the community, and that he had met with Mayor Adams about saving it.
“It’s amazing the amount of people supporting the garden,” he said.
But Tigani said the garden's managers have stopped paying their rent, and that the need to build affordable housing for seniors trumps any sympathy they have gained from supporters.
“We have been working for 10 years to attempt to bring this site into a place where it can deliver 123 units of affordable senior housing,” Tigani said.
The down-to-the-wire filing means an appellate judge will have to hear both sides once again by Oct. 30.
Reiver said the garden’s supporters are ready to continue the fight.
“If HPD and the city go to court tomorrow, then we'll meet them there,” he said.
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housing
Liam Quigley
Liam Quigley is a reporter covering parks & sanitation for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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