A beloved green space in Lower Manhattan is days away from the wrecking ball. Elizabeth Street Garden is a 1-acre oasis known for its sculpture garden and leafy hedges in the midst of bustling Nolita.

“It’s not just a home for us, it’s a home to a lot of wildlife,” Victoria Levchenko, a longtime parkgoer, said.

What You Need To Know

  • In 2019, the City Council approved plans to turn Elizabeth Street Garden into an affordable housing complex 
  • The nonprofit group Elizabeth Street Garden, which has managed and maintained the green space since the 1990s, tried to fight the eviction multiple times but ultimately lost
  • A lawyer for the group is currently pursuing other legal action against city

The nonprofit group Elizabeth Street Garden turned the city-owned site into a public green space in the 1990s and has maintained it ever since. But in 2019, the City Council approved plans to turn the garden into an affordable housing complex.

“If the green spaces go, then I think that we’re going to be missing something major in our lives, especially the young ones,” another parkgoer, Katharine Dickinson, said.

The city plans to demolish at least part of the park to make room for 123 apartments for older New Yorkers, including 50 for those experiencing homelessness.

“We need housing, yes. And we can get housing. But preserve Elizabeth Street Garden because it’s one of a kind. We’re never going to get something like this again,” Elizabeth Street Garden director Joseph Reiver said.

The group has tried to fight the eviction multiple times but ultimately lost. Mayor Eric Adams says New Yorkers are experiencing a housing crisis.

“I got 60,000 people living in the shelter, 150,000 migrants and asylum seekers are gonna be looking for shelter,” Adams said during a press conference Tuesday. “I get calls all day, every day from seniors who are in tears because they don’t believe they will have a roof over their heads. I gotta put New Yorkers in housing.”

Advocates have suggested alternate sites where the city could build affordable housing, but Mayor Adams says the rental vacancy rate is down to just 1.4%

“When we talk about housing, people often say, ‘Well why don’t you move it down the block?’ And I keep trying to tell people, I need that property down the block too,” Adams said.

Elizabeth Street Garden is now urging the mayor to come to the space and see how valuable it is to the community.

“We have a solution that achieves affordable housing and preserves this and there’s literally no loss to the community. And that’s what we’re fighting for,” Reiver said.

Adams on Tuesday said that he plans to stop by and see the garden. Still, the space is expected to be demolished on Sept. 10. Elizabeth Street Garden says their lawyer is in the process of pursuing other legal action.