City’s plans to build affordable housing on community garden dividing Nolita

Residents fight city effort to redevelop park

Margaret Chin Elizabeth Street Park
From left: Margaret Chin And The Elizabeth Street Park in Nolita

Oh Nolita, how does your garden grow? A fight over the redevelopment of the Elizabeth Street Garden is dividing do-gooders.

Residents of the neighborhood, organized as Friends of Elizabeth Street Garden, are pushing back against Council member Margaret Chin’s plan to build affordable housing at the site, between Mott Street and Elizabeth Street.

The city estimates the half-acre plot could house a 60 to 75-unit building plus retail on the ground floor.

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The Department of Housing Preservation and Development has applied for a grant of $6 million from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation as a preliminary for the project. Chin has sought to redevelop the site since 2012, the New York Times reported.

Elizabeth Street Garden is city-owned, but is used as a private showroom and storage area for the Elizabeth Street Gallery. The gallery pays the city $4,000 a month in rent for the privilege. [NYT]Ariel Stulberg

 

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