Soho Garden Supporters Want To Take Over Site From City

SOHO, NY — The long-running battle over plans to turn a Soho garden into affordable housing for seniors continued this week, with supporters of the garden releasing a new proposal to preserve the green space.

A nonprofit that wants to block development on the property, located between Elizabeth and Mott streets near Prince Street, released its plan Tuesday suggesting that the space be turned into a Community Land Trust and that the affordable housing development be moved elsewhere.

The group, which shares its name with the Elizabeth Street Garden, wants the city-owned land to be controlled by the community and outfitted with a new green house and a shed with solar panels, it said in the new proposal.

The city currently plans to convert the Elizabeth Street Garden into a 121-unit housing complex for low- and fixed-income seniors, while maintaining 7,600 square feet of the property as a public garden.

The plan has been a controversial one in the neighborhood since 2015, when a city agency identified the garden as one that could be converted into affordable housing.

The housing project, known as "Haven Green," would have 121 housing units, and would also be home to offices for SAGE, the organization dedicated to supporting LGBT older adults and seniors, and Habitat for Humanity's New York City offices. The city released details about the plan in December. The land would be developed by Penrose Properties, Habitat for Humanity New York City and RiseBoro Community Partnerships if the plan is approved.

In Haven Green, 37 of the units would be reserved for formerly homeless seniors, according to the current plan.

Council Member Margaret Chin, who represents the neighborhood in City Hall, has consistently supported plans to turn the city-owned land into affordable housing for seniors.

"As part of the City's process to create permanent public open space, all members of the community are invited to be at the table to design the best open space for everyone to enjoy," Marian Guerra, Chin's communications director, said in a statement responding to the nonprofit's proposal for a Community Land Trust.

The Elizabeth Street Garden group opposes the current plan, saying that more affordable housing could be built on a nearby site and that the green space is a rarity in the Soho and Little Italy neighborhoods, and to shrink it would deprive the community of a beloved public space.

The Haven Green development is still a long way off from breaking ground. The project must be approved by the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP, which requires multiple governing bodies to review it. Mayor Bill de Blasio has already committed his support to the proposal.

Image credit: Rendering courtesy of Ella Barnes / Elizabeth Street Garden