Half of the largest network of community gardens in the U.S. — 69 parcels totaling more than eight acres in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn — is set to change hands next week, according to an announcement from the Trust for Public Land, which currently holds title to them.

The Trust purchased the gardens from the city for $3 million in 1999; they are now valued at $7 million.

The first batch of gardens, which includes 32 parcels, will be deeded over to the newly-formed Manhattan and Bronx Land Trusts on Tuesday at a ceremony at East Harlem’s Carver Garden, on 124th Street between Second and Third avenues. The rest of the Trust’s gardens are expected to be acquired by the Brooklyn-Queens Land Trust in the fall. — Sarabeth Sanders… [more]

Financial troubles are forcing state and local governments in New York and New Jersey to scale back efforts to buy choice pieces of farmland and open space for preservation, the Wall Street Journal reported. Conservation groups have viewed the real estate slump as the perfect opportunity to buy cheap land from struggling developers and banks, industry experts say. But the funding for such programs is being cut as governments struggle to balance budgets. “It’s a fabulous time to buy land, but there’s no public money,” said Leslie Wright, director of the Trust for Public Land’s New York program, a land conservation organization. The budget that was passed this week in New York cut funding by 65 percent for open space and farmland preservation, to $28.4 million. In New Jersey, the state is continuing to purchase and protect farmland and open space through a $400 million bond that voters approved last year. But New Jersey counties, facing pressure to reduce taxes and balance budgets, are sharply curtailing their preservation efforts. [WSJ]

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From left: 20-acre Ohrbach Lake at Camp Pouch (Photo credit: Emily Schnure) and a rough outline of the property

The New York office of the Boy Scouts of America wants commercial services firm Jones Lang LaSalle to help negotiate the sale of the development rights — or the entire 120-acre property — composed of mostly undeveloped land in the tree-filled Greenbelt of Staten Island, a spokesperson for the non-profit organization told The Real Deal.

The Greater New York Councils, Boys Scouts of America, picked JLL to represent it in negotiations, but the brokerage has not yet signed a contract with the non-profit, he said.

The Boy Scouts is considering selling the development rights to William H. Pouch Camp — either a portion of the site or the whole parcel — as a way to raise much needed funds for the financially strapped organization, Boy Scouts spokesperson William Kelly said. If the property is put on the market, it will likely be the largest
listing in New York City today in terms of square feet, brokers said. The Boy Scouts began conversations with the national conservation-focused non-profit Trust for Public Land about two weeks ago to arrange some kind of sale of the Pouch Camp land, Kelly said.  More

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