Endangered Harlem Garden Thrives, Even As Sale Looms

HARLEM, NY — Hidden away on a West Harlem block is an oasis of green that has brightened and calmed the neighborhood for years — though a recent sale threatens its future.

The community garden on West 134th Street has been active for about four years, occupying a once-vacant lot between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. When it began, there had been "a lot of shootings" nearby, causing some neighbors to fear for their safety when they left their homes, said Naomi Velez, a block association member and lead organizer behind the garden.

"We thought it would be a good idea to have a space where people might want to come out and feel a little safe and do something together as a community," she said.

Since then, the garden has become a gathering place, performance space and public art venue — not to mention a modest farm where fresh produce is grown, donated and eaten. Crime on the block has dropped measurably, Velez said.

At its onset, the property at 521 West 134th St. was owned by The August Aichhorn Center: a nonprofit home for troubled teenagers based on the Upper West Side, which had plans to build a new headquarters on the block and allowed the garden to operate there in the meantime.

After Aichhorn changed its plans, however, the lot was put up for sale earlier this year, marketed as an "outstanding Northern Manhattan development opportunity." Records show the property was sold in May for about $2.9 million, to a buyer listed only as "Manhattanville RE Partners LLC."

Dan Cohen, the leader of an affordable housing nonprofit and recent candidate for the neighborhood's City Council seat, told Patch that the buyer is a developer seeking to build student housing on the block, to capitalize on its proximity to Columbia University and City College.

Hoping to find a way to preserve the garden, Cohen has volunteered to negotiate with the developers on behalf of the block association, hoping to find a way to preserve the garden. (He declined to name the developer, not wanting to complicate the negotiations before they begin.)

Community Board 9 has also appealed to state authorities to gain a greater say in the garden's future.

Ideally, Cohen said, a deal might be reached where the site's development rights would instead be transferred to the vacant five-story building immediately west of the garden, which is owned by the city and already set to be rehabilitated into housing.

If that fails, neighbors might try to convince the developer to build on only part of the lot, preserving space for a smaller garden.

"I’m interested in preserving the garden," Cohen said. "I’ve seen the benefits it can provide to the neighborhood."

On a recent Friday, volunteers enjoyed a potluck lunch as high school students visiting from Manhattan's Martin Luther King, Jr. Educational Campus were painting a new mural, depicting a culturally diverse city street inspired by the surrounding neighborhood.

"What we really wanted to show was our lives in New York," said Claudia Persia, a high school junior. "As teenagers growing up in a big city."