Hoyda sells LES community garden lot to developer

Developer Serge Hoyda, who was looking to bring a six-story residential building to a Lower East Side lot, at 157 Norfolk Street, has sold the property to a buyer that appears to be Yonkers-based developer Horizon Group. The lot was part of a community space, called the Children’s Magical Garden, for over three decades.

The sale has yet to hit public records.

Horizon is also behind the cantilevering project at 100 Norfolk Street, the Villager reported.

Advocates for the community garden expressed concern that the city might sell air rights to the developer, enabling them to build a taller structure than the one that Hoyda filed for with the city’s Department of Buildings in November, the Villager said.

“That would be terrible, that is not happening!” said Kate Temple-West, president of the board for the Children’s Magical Garden, of that possibility. She and other board members are still hoping to work out a land swap or other arrangement with the buyer, which would keep what they describe as an “unwelcome” building from rising on their garden. [Villager] – Hiten Samtani