A bitter, decade-long dispute over the future of a city-owned lot turned popular-community greenspace may finally, officially be coming to an end \u2013 roughly 14 months after then-Mayor Eric Adams abruptly canceled a plan to build low-income senior housing there in June 2025.<\/p>\n
The saga over the fate of the Elizabeth Street Garden has played out in community protests, pro-housing demonstrations and a series of lawsuits dating back to at least 2017, when the city selected a trio of developers \u2013 the company Pennrose and nonprofits Habitat for Humanity and Riseboro \u2013 to build 123 units of affordable housing for low income seniors on the lot.<\/p>\n
City officials defended the development plan for years before Adams\u2019 sudden reversal. The three developers sued<\/a> the city in November, adding yet another skirmish in the long, drawn-out war over the garden.<\/p>\n Now, according to court filings<\/a>, the city and the spurned development team may be on the verge of an \u201camicable resolution\u201d to settle the dispute. City lawyers and attorneys for the developers are due back in court on Thursday after requesting an extension to negotiate a settlement.<\/p>\n City attorney Derek Segars asked the judge last month to give the sides another four weeks to reach a deal, \u201cwith the expectation that the matter will be amicably resolved before the proposed return date\u201d of Aug. 13.<\/p>\n The two sides have declined to say what a settlement might entail. But three people familiar with the discussions who asked not to be named so as not to derail negotiations, say the city and developers are working on a deal that would allow the developers to formally take over a city-owned lot at 22 Suffolk Street. The narrow, nearly block-long parcel at the corner of Grand Street once considered a potential site for a new school.<\/p>\n The lot has been presented as a peace offering before.<\/p>\n In the final days of the Adams administration, top deputy Randy Mastro had issued a letter<\/a> to the developers offering to give them the rights to the lot in exchange for dropping their lawsuit. The development team rejected the bid before current Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office days later.<\/p>\n Mamdani said during his campaign that he supported building housing on the Elizabeth Street site, but so far he has not challenged his predecessors\u2019 move to designate the lot as parkland.<\/p>\n \u201cAs part of our commitment to building the affordable housing New Yorkers urgently need, we are moving forward to deliver over 180 affordable homes at 22 Suffolk Street,\u201d said City Hall spokesperson Matthew Rauschenbach. \u201cAt the same time, we are continuing to work toward a resolution of the lawsuit initiated under the previous administration concerning the Elizabeth Street Garden site.\u201d<\/p>\n In a written statement, Pennrose Acquisitions President Dylan Salmons said the company \u201cis committed to delivering affordable housing to New Yorkers who need it most, and we continue to look for opportunities to partner with the City to deliver on this mission.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Habitat for Humanity and RiseBoro declined to comment.<\/p>\n