Mayor Eric Adams says “nothing has changed” about the Elizabeth Street Garden project. But he also mentioned the prospect of “alternate sites.”
Before Adams took the stage at TRD’s NYC Forum, I asked the mayor if he would continue to push for the housing planned for the Elizabeth Street Garden, a development known as Haven Green. Last month, the New York Times reported that First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro was discussing the possibility of backing away from the project, which is slated to deliver 123 senior housing units on a site that is being used as a sculpture garden.
“Nothing has changed yet. I need alternate sites,” Adams said Wednesday, noting that he needs to build housing.
“As of now, nothing has changed,” he said. “Something else comes about, then we’ll have that conversation.”
He didn’t elaborate on what sites the administration might be considering, and a City Hall spokesperson on Wednesday pointed to a statement on social media from April 25 indicating the project has not changed and the city “will move forward with the eviction process at the appropriate time.” The spokesperson also said that the mayor was referring, in general, to the need for more housing on sites besides the Elizabeth Street Garden.
Elizabeth Street Garden, which is also the name of the group opposing the development, has previously pushed for housing to be built on other city- and federally-owned sites, including 388 Hudson Street (where the city is already planning to build housing), 2 Howard Street and 271 Bowery.
Haven Green has been more than a decade in the making. The city sought proposals for the site, which the city has leased to a neighboring property owner since the 1990s, in 2016. The following year, the city tapped Pennrose, RiseBoro Community Partnership and Habitat for Humanity NYC for the job. In 2017, the City Council approved the project and has been held up by years of litigation.
The city emerged victorious in court, but has not yet moved forward with evicting the garden. A reversal by the Adams administration would be a big deal: The mayor has framed his administration — including at Wednesday’s TRD Forum — as the most pro-housing in the city’s history.
What we’re thinking about: Were you at our NYC Forum today? Tell me about your favorite moments at kathryn@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: The laborers’ union has launched a campaign against Nathan Berman’s Metro Loft, as part of a broader effort to push for new labor standards for office-to-residential conversions. The union gathered outside Metro Loft’s 219-235 East 42nd Street and other buildings to protest the firm’s use of certain nonunion subcontractors. A former employee of one of those subcontractors, Northeast Specialist Group, was at our forum today and did a solo protest after the panel featuring Berman.
Closing Time
Residential: The priciest residential sale Wednesday was $36.5 million for a 3,043 square-foot condominium at 220 Central Park South.
Commercial: The most expensive commercial closing of the day was $13.3 million for a 126,054-square-foot, 122-unit apartment building at 1266 Olmstead Avenue in Parkchester.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $19.85 million for a 4,287-square-foot condominium at 150 Barrow Street in the West Village. Peter Oliveri of Elegran and Forbes Global Properties has the listing. — Matthew Elo
Elsewhere in New York…
— Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy for the second time this week, and plans to shutter all of its locations, including the 178 throughout the state of New York, Gothamist reports. Rite Aid indicated that it is in talks with several potential buyers.
— ICYMI: The state legislature is giving Gov. Kathy Hochul broad authority to make mid-year budget cuts in response to federal funding cuts, City & State reports. “If the governor wants to be able to recommend a series of cuts, the legislature would have the ability to say ‘no’ or ‘go ahead,’” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters. He emphasized that the legislature was not giving the governor “unmitigated powers.”
— At our forum today, Steve Witkoff said he will never run for mayor and doesn’t aspire to any federal office. “And I am never walking back from those comments,” he said.