{"id":484946,"date":"2026-01-01T14:56:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T14:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/484946\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T14:56:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T14:56:43","slug":"elizabeth-st-garden-developers-refuse-to-drop-suit-v-adams-hope-mamdani-can-resurrect-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/484946\/","title":{"rendered":"Elizabeth St. Garden developers refuse to drop suit v. Adams, hope Mamdani can resurrect project"},"content":{"rendered":"

The developers behind the Elizabeth St. Garden<\/a> affordable housing project are rebuffing a call to drop their lawsuit against Mayor Adams and his top aide, Randy Mastro, who have in their final days in office been trying fervently to block the long-stalled housing plan.<\/p>\n

The developers, Pennrose Properties, Habitat for Humanity and RiseBoro, filed the suit last month<\/a> to challenge the Adams administration\u2019s decision to designate Nolita\u2019s Elizabeth St. Garden as \u201cparkland,\u201d a move that\u2019d make construction in the space close to impossible. The designation struck a serious blow to \u201cHaven Green,\u201d a project the three developers were first picked for years ago and which involves building 123 affordable apartments for senior citizens on the site of the city government-owned garden, while retaining some of the green space.<\/p>\n

Adams was for years a big supporter of Haven Green, but reversed himself and came out in opposition to it after naming Mastro, who has ties to prominent opponents<\/a> of the development, as his first deputy mayor in spring 2025.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro speaks during a press conference alongside Mayor Eric Adams at City Hall on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Mastro sent a letter to the developers<\/a> saying Adams\u2019 administration was willing to offer them another city government-owned site to develop housing on, at 22 Suffolk St., if they agreed to drop their lawsuit by noon Wednesday, the mayor\u2019s final day in office.<\/p>\n

But in a response letter to Mastro shared exclusively with the Daily News, Dylan Salmons, an executive at Pennrose, rejected the first deputy\u2019s offer, writing the 22 Suffolk St. offer made \u201cin the waning hours of the Adams administration is not sufficient for us to abandon litigation that we believe is in the public interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

For instance, Salmons noted the Suffolk St. site would need to undergo an entirely new land use application, a process that can take years, before shovels could hit the ground. By contrast, construction could start immediately at the Elizabeth St. Garden site.<\/p>\n

Perhaps more importantly, Salmons wrote his team hopes Zohran Mamdani, who was set to be sworn in as mayor at midnight Wednesday, will try and rescind the Adams administration\u2019s parkland designation and allow the original Haven Green project to proceed.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, the new administration should have the opportunity to determine whether to issue a designation letter, how to address the legal issues surrounding the Elizabeth Street site, and how best to accomplish a feasible, sustainable, and trustworthy affordable housing plan for the city,\u201d the letter stated. \u201cWe remain committed to working collaboratively with the city to deliver high-quality affordable housing in an appropriate and legally sound path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Elizabeth Street Garden is pictured in 2024. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

In response to Salmons\u2019 missive, Mastro assailed the developers for pursuing \u201ca frivolous lawsuit over a site that has already been designated parkland and that they have no chance of reversing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShame on them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In addition to Mastro and Adams, the developers\u2019 suit names several city agencies, including the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, as defendants.<\/p>\n

During the mayoral campaign, Mamdani promised to reverse Adams\u2019 blockade of the Elizabeth St. Garden development and move forward with building it. After the parkland designation, though, Mamdani said such a move had become \u201cnearly impossible.\u201d A spokeswoman for Mamdani didn\u2019t immediately return a request for comment on Salmons\u2019 letter.<\/p>\n

\"Mayor-electMayor-elect Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference at Elmhurst Medical Center where he announced the appointments of Steve Banks, Helen Arteaga and Ramzi Kassem, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, in Queens, New York. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Opponents of the Elizabeth St. Garden redevelopment say it would ruin a cherished green space.<\/p>\n

Supporters, including Adams himself at one point, have noted the Haven Green project would still leave some of the garden intact, while making room for much-needed senior housing in a neighborhood that has produced little of it in recent decades.<\/p>\n

In their pending lawsuit, Pennrose and the other developers allege the parkland designation isn\u2019t legitimate for a number of reasons<\/a>. For instance, they allege Mastro undertook the effort to block the development on behalf of \u201cwell-heeled private interests,\u201d citing reporting from The News<\/a> that a number of Adams allies, like his confidant Frank Carone, have been advising celebrities who are opposed to the garden redevelopment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The developers behind the Elizabeth St. Garden affordable housing project are rebuffing a call to drop their lawsuit…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":484947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,13239,23100,5289,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,219312,75294,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-484946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-city-hall","10":"tag-elizabeth-street-garden","11":"tag-eric-adams","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-pennrose","19":"tag-randy-mastro","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115820428483892400","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}