Elizabeth Street Garden served eviction notice by city

Despite last-ditch efforts from New York City icons like Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, Little Italy’s Elizabeth Street Garden received an eviction notice from the city this week. The nonprofit that oversees the garden said they have two weeks to vacate as the city moves forward with plans to build affordable senior housing and retail space on the unique green space. Elizabeth Street Garden said it plans to “continue to work with our legal team to address the eviction.”

“While we have been expecting the notice to be served, we are very disappointed that Mayor Eric Adams and Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer have refused to hold off on the eviction despite ongoing negotiations and thousands of letters from the public demanding they save the garden,” the garden said in an email.

“Mayor Adams and Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer are well aware that they can hold off on any eviction in order to work with us on both the public and private site proposals. At this point, they have chosen not to seriously consider a true win-win-win solution where there is no loss to the community.”

Elizabeth Street Garden is a one-acre community space transformed from a vacant lot into a unique park by Allan Reiver, who began leasing the site from the city in 1991. Reiver, who passed away in 2021, filled the garden with items found at estate sales, including a gazebo, a 20th-century balustrade, and lion sculptures.

The garden did not officially open to the public until 2013 when plans to build affordable housing on the site first surfaced. “The only thing to do was to open it to the public,” Reiver told 6sqft in a 2019 interview. “Let the public defend it. Let the public fall in love with it.”

Local residents and businesses formed the Friends of Elizabeth Street Garden nonprofit to not only fight the city’s plans to raze the garden, but also oversee its upkeep and community programs. The group splintered and a new nonprofit, the Elizabeth Street Garden Inc. (ESG), formed in 2016 to help keep the space open daily and year-round.

The development set to replace the garden, called Haven Green, was approved by the City Council in 2019. The project calls for 100 percent affordable housing for low-income seniors, including some formerly homeless New Yorkers, space for Habitat for Humanity, and a public garden.

Later that year, ESG filed a lawsuit over Haven Green, claiming that the city did not properly evaluate the environmental impact of razing the garden. While a state supreme court judge agreed and halted the project in 2022, an appellate court in 2023 overturned the ruling, allowing the development to continue.

According to The Real Deal, the group also appealed the city’s effort to evict the garden, but a judge ruled in the city’s favor. The garden received a stay of eviction until September but has to pay roughly $100,000 in back rent.

Garden supporters have argued there are several alternative sites for Haven Green that would include much-needed affordable housing without sacrificing public green space.

However, city officials have long countered that notion, claiming that supporters have presented a “false choice” between public space and housing. Plus, Haven Green includes public green space, the New York Post reported.

Scorsese, De Niro, and Patti Smith penned letters to Mayor Adams in an effort to save the garden.

De Niro wrote: “I support increasing the availability of affordable housing…but I’m also passionate about preserving the character of our neighborhoods.”

“Mr. Mayor, you lead a great city. And you understand resources like the Elizabeth Street Garden serve the people who make our city great. Taking away the Elizabeth Street Garden is erasing part of our city’s unique cultural history and heritage.”

The crisis is a rental vacancy rate of 1.4 percent, the lowest ever recorded. Officials consider a vacancy rate of less than 5 percent a “housing emergency.”

After news of the eviction notice broke, the city’s Housing Department wrote in a post on X on Wednesday: “Far too many people, including older NYers, struggle to find housing and afford rent – that’s why we fought for Haven Green and it’s why we’ll always fight to create affordable housing across the five boroughs.”

“Today is a step forward for both affordable housing and community green space. Today is an optimistic day. We’re reaffirming our commitment to solving the homelessness and affordable housing crises even when it’s politically challenging.”

Community outreach for the Haven Green garden and open space is expected to begin this fall and winter; developers expect to break ground in the summer 2025 and complete the project within two years.

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• Judge halts Elizabeth Street Garden-replacing senior housing development