Elizabeth Street Garden, NYC’s beloved bucolic escape between Little Italy and SoHo, has been saved.
A popular attraction for New Yorkers and celebs alike (hi, Robert DeNiro), the sweet spot faced demolition to make space for senior affordable housing, luxury retail, and offices. After a long back and forth and pleas to Mayor Eric Adams, the housing plans have stalled.
The Garden’s Instagram page made the announcement on Monday, June 23rd, much to New Yorkers’ delight. “Dear Neighbors…The Garden is saved! Swipe for the full statement & more info on how this is happening.”
Elizabeth Street Garden, NYC’s sweet escape, won’t face demolition
For the past year, garden’s fate remained in limbo, but now it’s official that the greenspace will remain for generations to come.
The note from the garden reads, “Thanks to Councilmember [Christopher] Marte’s dedication, and the support from Mayor Adams, we now have a resolution that delivers even more housing while preserving the Garden.”
The note continues, “Through zoning actions at a privaetly owned site just two blocks away on the Bowery, a vacant city-owned property on Suffolk Street, and more affordable hosing at 100 Gold Street, at least 623 new affordable units will be created in our district in addition to hundreds of more homes.”
“This is what smart, responsible leadership looks like: bringing people together to reach common sense solutions that create more housing and protect green space,” Adams said in a statement.
Councilmember Marte echoed the sentiment in a statement and said, “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. And with this historic agreement with Mayor Eric Adams, this will be the largest influx of new, permanently affordable housing in Lower Manhattan in decades.”
This is a developing story. We’ll continue to update you as we learn more.