Housing on garden O.K.’d; Courtyard in mix
BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
Surprising no one, the City Council
two weeks ago approved a
senior affordable-housing plan
that would destroy the Elizabeth St.
Garden.
The project would create 123 units
of “deeply affordable” senior housing
on the through-block site, located
between Mott and Elizabeth Sts., between
Spring and Prince Sts. Thirty
percent of the units would be set aside
for formerly homeless seniors. The
building would be affordable for at
least 60 years.
Meanwhile, under the scheme, the
existing 20,000-square-foot Elizabeth
St. Garden would be razed. The project,
in turn, after destroying the statue
festooned garden, would provide
6,700 square feet of open space, which
would be accessible to Elizabeth St. by
a 1,700-square-foot publicly accessible
open “breezeway” running under the
new building.
In a recent change, an offi ce space
of 11,200 square feet that Habitat for
Humanity would have been given in a
one-story extension off of the project —
and which was extremely galling to the
community — has been pulled from
the plan, increasing the open space that
would be left.
But in the latest twist, Council
Speaker Corey Johnson has been trying
to broker a deal that would connect
the remnant of open space that would
be left on the former garden lot to a
14,000-square-foot building courtyard
just to the south. The garden and the
courtyard share an 80-foot-long fence.
“A portion” of the courtyard would
be a “publicly accessible space,” according
to the Department of Housing
Preservation and Development,
the lead city agency behind the Haven
Green project.
However, the Elizabeth St. Garden’s
two nonprofi t groups — who both fi led
suit against the Haven Green development
in March — aren’t buying this
new substitute open-space plan, and
intend to forge ahead with litigation to
stop the housing project and save the
garden. The two lawsuits have basically
been combined into one and will be
treated as such by the court.
The gardeners continue to argue that
the de Blasio administration should
instead simply shift the housing to an
alternative site at Hudson and Clarkson
Sts., where more housing could be
built, so that the beautiful garden can
be saved in open-space starved Little
Italy. Community Board 2 — which
contains both the garden and the alternative
site — supports moving the
housing project to the Hudson St. alternative
site.
Meanwhile, the City Council on June
26 voted nearly unanimously to back
the Haven Green plan. There was one
The courtyard of the LIRA building, at 21 Spring St., is paved and has
mature trees that cast the space into shadow, as do the apartment
building walls on three sides of it.
abstention, Brooklyn Councilmember
Rafael Espinal, who was a candidate in
the special election for public advocate
earlier this year.
It’s standard procedure for councilmembers,
when voting on such matters,
to defer to the local councilmember,
and, in this case, Councilmember
Margaret Chin is Haven Green’s main
sponsor and fi ercest defender. That
said, every other local politician —
with the notable exception of Manhattan
Borough President Gale Brewer
and Mayor de Blasio — is publicly on
record for saving the garden.
Last month, DeMatteis Organization,
the owner of the LIRA (Little Italy
Restoration Association) affordable
housing complex at 21 Spring St., just
south of the garden, signed a “letter of
commitment” to allow the courtyard to
be used as a publicly accessible space.
In return, the City Council has
agreed to preserve the LIRA apartments’
affordability, which had been
set to expire.
Last month, Alan C. Sullivan, executive
vice president of DeMatteis, sent
Speaker Johnson a letter, dated June
10, as he put it, “to memorialize our
commitment to working with your offi
ce, H.P.D., the Haven Green development
team and the community board to
preserve the affordability of apartments
at 21 Spring St. and work in good faith
to create a connected open space with
the forthcoming Haven Green senior
housing development.”
The letter notes that DeMatteis had
met with H.P.D., the development team
and a landscape architect three times
in the previous weeks “to explore if and
how the uses of these two spaces, one
public and one private, might be integrated.”
Sullivan’s letter goes on to note that
because there are tenants at 21 Spring
St. overlooking the courtyard, “we need
PHOTO BY JEANNINE KIELY
to be mindful of their privacy and quiet
enjoyment if the space becomes open to
the public and would need to work with
our existing tenants to make sure safety
and privacy concerns are addressed.”
Sullivan also notes that while De-
Matteis is “not in a position to absorb
any additional costs” involving the
courtyard’s redesign or reconstruction,
it’s their understanding that the City
Council would fund any needed capital
costs to upgrade the open space.
Joseph Reiver, executive director of
Elizabeth St. Garden, the group that
operates the garden, said, despite Johnson’s
new courtyard deal, saving the
garden remains their focus.
“It seems that they’re willing to do
everything they can instead of considering
the alternative site,” Reiver said.
“In the end, it doesn’t save the Elizabeth
St. Garden.”
As for the LIRA courtyard that has
now been thrown into the mix, he said,
“It’s all paved and there are benches in
there and it’s shaded. It’s not the same
thing. I can tell you that grass would
never grow in there. There are rear
windows, so there are privacy logistics
we’ll have to fi gure out.”
Jeannine Kiely is president of Friends
of Elizabeth St. Garden, the group that
initially rallied the community to the
garden’s defense after it was discovered
to be city-owned property.
“The City Council continues to ignore
the opportunity for commonsense
city planning and a win-win solution,”
Kiely said. “At 388 Hudson St., the city
can build fi ve times as much housing
for local seniors.
“Engaged, rational citizens who recognize
the dire crisis of both housing
and green spaces look at the choice that
the city is making — ignoring the obvious
better solution — and are baffl ed
and enraged,” Kiely said. “Some small
changes to the Haven Green plan are
piecemeal modifi cations and will be
seen as an attempt to mollify the thousands
of residents and visitors who have
expressed their need for the garden as
a public park.”
Tobi Bergman, when he was C.B. 2
chairperson, was a staunch defender of
the Elizabeth St. Garden. He had the
idea of moving the housing to the alternative
site, previously designated for a
park. Bergman, who recently resigned
from C.B. 2, likes the idea of using the
LIRA courtyard as public open space.
“For the fi rst time there is a real opportunity
to have both affordable housing
and a real public garden,” Bergman
said. “Addition of space created by the
removal from the plan of the one-story
building extension for Habitat for Humanity,
along with the adjacent courtyard
at 21 Spring St., creates an area
for a large and dynamic community
place. ... Hopefully, everyone will have
suffi cient vision and goodwill to see
this through to a happy ending.”
Similarly, David Gruber, chairperson
of the C.B. 2 Elizabeth St. Garden
Working Group, was intrigued by the
courtyard scheme.
“It’s not a bad idea,” he said. “It’s
14,000 square feet, which is kind of
what we’re losing. If the garden picked
up 14,000 square feet, that would be
tremendous. It could be a beautiful environment.
There could be shrubs all
around. The ‘L’ shape could be interesting,”
he said, referring to how the remaining
open space on Mott St. could
connect to the LIRA courtyard.
Told that Reiver, for one, is still focusing
on saving the garden, Gruber
was puzzled.
“Why would Joseph Reiver not want
to embrace something that would give
us more space?” he asked. “I want to
save the garden, too. But if that’s not
going to happen, I like this prospect of
integrating the two spaces,” he said.
However, Reiver said bluntly, not all
open space is equal.
“It doesn’t change it for us,” he
stressed of the courtyard option. “We’re
fi ghting to save Elizabeth St. Garden.
It’s more than just generic open space
— it’s an iconic space, and it’s heavily
used.”
Although the lawsuit’s next court
date is in September, Reiver warned if
the developers “try to pull a fast one,”
such as by doing soil test borings in the
garden, the opponents will go straight
to court.
Jennifer Romine, a resident of the
LIRA building, said its tenants support
saving the garden.
“Ninety-fi ve percent of LIRA tenants
signed the 2015 petition in strong support
of saving the garden,” she said.
Speaker Johnson and Councilmember
Chin did not comment for this article
by press time.
6 July 11 - July 24, 2019 DEX Schneps Media