The City of New York has finalized a new agreement to create over 620 affordable homes across Lower Manhattan while preserving the Elizabeth Street Garden as a publicly accessible space. Mayor Eric Adams and Councilmember Christopher Marte announced the plan on Monday, marking a shift from previous proposals that would have replaced the garden with housing. Under the agreement, the city will pause redevelopment of the garden and instead rezone three alternative sites within Council District 1 to deliver more than five times the originally proposed number of affordable units.
YIMBY attended yesterday’s momentous public celebration at the garden, where multiple rounds of applause, speeches by Councilmember Christopher Marte and executive director of Elizabeth Street Garden Inc. Joseph River, and music by Patti Smith was given to hundreds of attendees.
Elizabeth Street Garden. Photo by Michael Young.
Elizabeth Street Garden. Photo by Michael Young.
Elizabeth Street Garden. Photo by Michael Young.
Councilmember Christopher Marte at the Elizabeth Street Garden on June 23. Photo by Michael Young.
The first development site under the plan is 156-166 Bowery, a collection of seven lots totaling approximately 15,000 square feet between Broome and Kenmare Streets, which will be rezoned to include at least 123 affordable units for seniors in partnership with Kinsmen Property Group. A second site at 22 Suffolk Street, a city-owned lot comprising 15,500 square feet, will produce around 200 affordable units. Both will advance through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). These efforts will accompany previously announced plans at 100 Gold Street, where rezoning aims to unlock up to 1,000 homes, including at least 300 affordable units.
Notably, the Elizabeth Street Garden will remain a public green space open daily from 8AM to 8PM under terms enforceable by the city. It may eventually be incorporated into the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
“This incredible win-win for our community shows exactly why we should never give up,” said Councilmember Marte. “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. Our rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods have been desperate for homes that working people can actually afford — and now we will have hundreds of new neighbors, and old neighbors with new homes, right here, all while saving a beloved community garden that is a home-away-from-home for Lower Manhattan families.”
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Has Eric Adams finally learned how to govern?
I’m not angry about this, though the two sites mentioned should be rezoned for far more units.
I lived in that Neighborhood and it is starved for Green Space.
This is great news. Elizabeth Street Garden is a tremendous asset to the neighborhood and city as a whole. Congrats to community perseverance. And thanks to elected who actually listen to constituents. Well done.
You should be happy then that the city initially wanted to do this. Prior to those plans the garden was open one hour a week or something like that
I thought this site was YIMBY!
Apparently I was wrong…
As this is a case of NIMBY!!
You’re wrong Marcus. This is a win-win situation that will deliver affordable housing AND preserving this garden.
Don’t be so brainwashed
I don’t live in the Elizabeth Street Garden neighborhood, but I go by it frequently. I have only ever seen people in the garden space about two weeks ago (all other times the gates are locked). This is a shameful example of NIMBY-ism disguised as community preservation.
If you are concerned about where seniors (without a lot of disposable income) are going to live in our City, then this outcome should not be celebrated.
Yes it should be celebrated. And if you haven’t read the article, they are building affordable housing on different sites that can offer more units than what was proposed here.
This is YIMBY-ism. Your remark about the garden being locked up is bad timing on your part, not the fault of the garden because it’s clearly been open this past spring. Stop spreading false narratives 😡
All winter long the garden was locked up in the mornings when I would go by. On this beautiful Spring morning…still locked up (and still no “replacement” affordable housing).
Affordable senior housing is an all-year use.
The Garden had to push for years, including law suits, for this simple, common-sense proposal, which They developed, to happen.
Adams deserves no credit at all.
Prior to these plans that garden was never open…like one hour on a random Tuesday afternoon or something
A saved backyard to say “Yes” in.
I can’t believe there are people that believe saving the garden and moving the affordable housing to another site is considered NIMBYism. That’s f*cking insane trying to spin a narrative of making the garden an expendable piece of land that’s up for grabs and not worth saving. This is exactly why supporters have been upset about this whole process, since there are SO MANY better places to building new housing than here
A big win for the NIMBYs! There didn’t need to be a backroom deal made to rezone parts of what should be a slam dunk housing district—that should have been the expected reality anyway. The development on this site should have moved forward years ago.
Wrong. Who paid you to write such an outright lie??? There were no “backroom” deals as much as you hardheaded NIMBY’s hope there would be.
There is going to be MORE units created than what was originally slated to be built on the site of Elizabeth Street Garden. Why are you in denial of that and blaming YIMBY’s for “killing” the project, when it’s clearly stated that two other nearby sites, and 100 Gold Street in downtown, will be turned into housing?
We could have had it all!!! The other sites would’ve been approved in any case “garden” or not.
You can upzone any building – you can’t make new green space out of thin air – this is a win.
You can’t build deeply affordable senior housing *with green space* out of thin air!
And much more green space could be secured for this neighborhood if Marte and his colleagues supported upzoning and street pedestrianization or vegetalization, but sadly they do not.
why do they put affordable housing in one of the most expensive areas in the whole US?
Read your question carefully again, and you’ll find the answer to it… 🤦🏼♀️
Recognizing Kaitlin’s comment that over recent months of summer and fall the space was actively used. This morning…all locked up.
Last I checked, affordable senior housing is an all-year use.
Last Thursday’s beautiful Spring morning…still locked up.
Still waiting for that promised affordable housing in Marte’s district to come through.