Manhattan Community Board 2 voted down a contentious city-backed plan to build affordable senior housing on the Elizabeth Street Garden in Nolita.
The community board capped its review process of the Haven Green development last week with a lengthy resolution and advisory vote against the project—developed by Pennrose Properties with Habitat for Humanity NYC—which is set to include 123 studio apartments, 15,000 square feet of ground-level retail, and some 8,000 square feet of open space.
Advocates for the one-acre sculpture garden have long railed against the project and clashed with local City Council member Margaret Chin, who has maintained that Haven Green will supply sorely needed affordable housing in one of the city’s most expensive areas.
“While I fully respect Community Board 2’s decision, I believe there is a dire need for affordable housing for seniors right now and right here in Little Italy,” Chin told Curbed.
A competing narrative of parkland versus affordable housing has dominated the debate on the garden redevelopment. Those in favor of preserving the space have argued that the city’s need to build affordable housing should not come at the expense of public greenery and have urged that the project be built on a city-owned lot a mile away.
A board member with the nonprofit Friends Of Elizabeth Street Garden, which formed to save the space, praised the community board vote and said she remains hopeful that the de Blasio administration will develop “a win-win solution to save the garden and develop critical senior affordable housing.”
“We are heartened that Community Board 2, has come out strongly in favor of preserving Elizabeth Street Garden in its entirety,” Emily Hellstrom told Curbed. “They clearly recognize that we live in a neighborhood starved for public green open space, which is essential to the people who live and work in Historic Little Italy and the surrounding neighborhoods.”
Other groups who have advocated on behalf of the garden include nonprofit the Cultural Landscape Foundation based in Washington, D.C., which last November designated the Elizabeth Street Garden a Landslide nationally significant cultural landscape that is threatened. The foundation’s head argues that not only should the garden be left untouched but reviewed as a piece of the neighborhood’s historic district.
“The Cultural Landscape Foundation believes that every effort should be made to prevent the Elizabeth Street Garden’s demolition and that a determination should be made about whether the garden should be evaluated as a contributing feature in the Little Italy Historic District,” Charles Birnbaum, the president and CEO of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, told Curbed in a statement.
Under the Haven Green project, the open space would be managed by Habitat for Humanity, which—along with elderly LGBTQ advocacy organization SAGE and RiseBoro Community Partnership—would offer supportive programming for the residents of the building. Habitat for Humanity stressed that the development is designed to serve the most at-risk residents of the area.
“With over 4,600 of CB2’s own residents on the senior housing waiting list, it is an honor to be part of a project providing 123 low-income seniors with an affordable, safe space to age in place,” Habitat said in a statement to Curbed. “We empathize with those who enjoy the current green space—but Habitat NYC will always fall on the side of the most vulnerable.”
The development team behind the project was “disappointed but unsurprised” with Thursday’s vote against Haven Green, but stressed that they are “confident” that the project will receive support moving forward with the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) onto the Manhattan Borough President’s office for review.
“The thoughtful project design maximizes the utility of the site by balancing the dire need for affordable housing with the local desire for open space,” a representative for Pennrose told Curbed in a statement. “We are confident that Haven Green will receive a fair and ultimately positive review through the remainder of the land use process—and result in the creation of both a home for 123 low-income seniors and publicly-accessible green space.”
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