The saga of the Elizabeth Street Garden is taking a holiday break.
The would-be developers of the affordable housing project at the Nolita site paused their lawsuit against the city over the weekend, Crain’s reported. The freeze appears to stem from negotiations with the city over an alternate site for the project, though those discussions seemed to be taking place when the lawsuit was filed.
The talks revolve around 22 Suffolk Street, a smaller lot a half-mile away from the garden. Council member Christopher Marte endorsed a 200-unit, all-affordable development for that site.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with the development team that brought this lawsuit that puts the litigation on pause until after the new year and withdraws the application for a temporary restraining order regarding the garden’s status,” First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said in a statement.
Despite the pause in litigation, the developers are still against transferring the Elizabeth Street Garden lot to the Parks Department.
Pennrose, Riseboro and Habitat for Humanity New York City and Westchester filed a lawsuit a week ago alleging that Mayor Eric Adams illegally designated the site as a city park. The developers had been chosen almost a decade ago to build 123 senior housing units on the city-owned site, a project dubbed Haven Green.
The complaint accused Adams of deciding the site’s future use without going through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or Ulurp, which is required to map land as a city park.
The administration claims Ulurp is only needed when it is transferring city property to private interests, not when it is moving a site from one city agency’s purview to another.
Last year, it seemed like Haven Green would finally break ground after years of protests and delays. The Adams administration, however, reversed its position on the project, announcing it would not kick out the sculpture garden from the site. Instead, the administration made a deal with Marte, who agreed to support the rezoning of three other sites that would net 620 affordable units, more than 400 apartments than were planned for the garden site.
The reversal drew criticism from City Council leaders, housing advocates, developers and other elected officials.
The city will decide on the request for a preliminary injunction early next year, when a new mayor will be in charge.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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