Elizabeth Street Garden Will Become Low-Income Senior Housing

LITTLY ITALY, NY — A contentious plan to build senior housing at the site of a beloved community garden cleared a pivotal hurdle as City Council voted Wednesday to approve the project.

The Council voted unanimously to approve the project, with a lone abstention from a Brooklyn councilman.

The project, known as Haven Green, is expected to bring 123 apartments of low-income, LGBTQ-friendly senior housing to the Little Italy area — but will require razing the beloved Elizabeth Street Garden to the outrage of garden supporters.

"This collective effort is what we need when we talk about housing justice for all," said Councilmember Margaret Chin, a longtime supporter of the plan. The plan "addresses both the urgent need of affordable housing and open space for the neighborhood."

In a statement, she applauded seniors "for not backing down in the face of a well-funded misinformation campaign that sought to tell us that now was not the time, and this was not the place for affordable housing."

The new development will retain about 6,700 square feet of open space — which is just one-third of the existing garden. But Wednesday, Council Speaker Corey Johnson announced with Councilmember Margaret Chin a new plan to expand Haven Green's new open space into a 14,000-square-foot courtyard south of the garden at the Little Italy Restoration Apartments.

"Together, the two open spaces would be over 20,000 square feet," Johnson said. Additional details remain to be seen, but owners of those apartments, The DeMatteis Organization have signed a letter of intent, Johnson said. The change was first noted at a council committee meeting earlier this month, Bowery Boogie reported.

Opponents who want to save the entire garden have fought tooth-and-nail with Chin and the plan's developers, Habitat for Humanity New York City, Pennrose Properties and RiseBoro Community Partnership. Elizabeth Street Garden and Friends of Elizabeth Street Garden filed lawsuits to halt the project — and charge a better option would be to build housing at a separate empty lot to save the garden in its entirety.

"City Council members fulfill their reputation of deference, short of one who abstained, and vote in favor of destroying Elizabeth Street Garden," executive director of the Elizabeth Street Garden Joseph Reiver tweeted.

City Council members fulfill their reputation of deference, short of one who abstained, and vote in favor of destroying Elizabeth Street Garden. None of them, including Chin and @CoreyinNYC have even been to the garden. This is why we have a lawsuit. #SaveESG pic.twitter.com/1NVU5azh6y
— Joseph Reiver (@ESGEDNYC) June 26, 2019

Empty seats at ⁦@NYCCouncil⁩ but #SaveESG supporters and thousands of letters held back by security. ⁦@CurbedNY⁩ ⁦@NYCCGC⁩ ⁦⁦@boweryboogie⁩ ⁦@thevillagernyc⁩ pic.twitter.com/NRZOEhWMJz
— Jeannine Kiely (@JeannineKiely) June 26, 2019

Karen Haycox, head of Habitat NYC, has repeatedly emphasized the need to bring low-income housing to wealthy neighborhoods.

"We are honored to be a part of a project and a team in building an ideal compromise that serves multiple community needs in one of our City’s Most gentrified and expensive neighborhoods," Haycox said in a statement.

The new building will serve formerly homeless seniors and those earning up to about $42,000, overseen by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, according to the project developers.

Hundreds packed rooms at myriad contentious meetings in the past year. Fiery debates among neighbors made some feel as if open space and affordable housing advocates were pitted against each other.

The Council's approval vote is the last step of a lengthy review process, called the uniform land use review procedure, before heading to the mayor's office for approval.