Mamdani Administration Scraps Plan to Build Affordable Housing on Elizabeth Street Garden Site
The decade-long battle over the future of Nolita’s Elizabeth Street Garden appears to be reaching a resolution. The administration of Mayor Zohran Mamdani will no longer pursue developing affordable housing directly on the garden’s site, reversing a key campaign pledge to evict the nonprofit tenant and proceed with construction.
Instead, city officials indicated an agreement has been reached to preserve the 1-acre community green space while shifting the planned development to an alternative city-owned lot at 22 Suffolk Street, where 180 affordable homes will be constructed.
The site on Elizabeth Street, created 35 years ago by gallery owner Allan Reiver, has served as a neighborhood park filled with outdoor sculptures and greenery.
Plans to redevelop the parcel for senior housing date back to 2012. While former Mayor Eric Adams previously designated the site as protected parkland, Mamdani had initially campaigned on building housing there to address the city’s affordability crisis.
Under the new compromise, the city will move forward with the expanded project on Suffolk Street, creating more housing units than the original 123 planned for the garden site. Representatives for both the city and the garden’s operators are scheduled to finalize the agreement in court.
Mr. W – This isn’t the first time (or last) a communist doesn’t deliver his promises
