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A heated feud over the fate of Nolita’s beloved Elizabeth Street Garden may finally be coming to an “amicable resolution” more than a year after former Mayor Eric Adams saved the greenspace from a wrecking ball.
The potential settlement stems from a lawsuit filed in November 2025 by three developers — Pennrose, Habitat for Humanity, and Riseboro — after the Adams administration canceled a plan to convert the garden into 123 units of low-income senior housing last June.
The city and the miffed development team now appear to be working toward an “amicable resolution,” and attorneys for both sides will return to court on Thursday after receiving an extension to negotiate the settlement, according to court documents first reported by Gothamist.
To put an end to the over-decade-long saga, the city and developers are striking a deal to transfer another city-owned lot, 22 Suffolk St., to the development team as a consolation prize, people familiar with the negotiations told the outlet.
“As part of our commitment to building the affordable housing New Yorkers urgently need, we are moving forward to deliver over 180 affordable homes at 22 Suffolk Street,” City Hall spokesperson Matt Rasuchenbauch told The Post.
“At the same time, we are continuing to work toward a resolution of the lawsuit initiated under the previous administration concerning the Elizabeth Street Garden site,” Rasuchenbauch said. “We will keep fighting to create more affordable homes, stronger neighborhoods, and public spaces that make New York the greatest city on earth.”
Local residents have fought the project since former Mayor Bill de Blasio first pitched the plan for “Haven Green,” a private development with units specifically reserved for formerly homeless seniors, in 2017.
The ensuing fight over the 20,000-square-foot space has resulted in celebrities like Robert De Niro and Patti Smith championing the effort. Supporters sent thousands of letters to save the space.
Adams, who vowed for years to build 123 affordable senior housing units and Habitat for Humanity offices at the site of the garden, changed his tune last June.
After “months” of negotiations among City Council member Christopher Marte, Adams, and First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, the city agreed to build 600 affordable units at three alternative locations, contingent on rezoning some of those properties.
The three locations included 22 Suffolk, 156-166 Bowery, and 100 Gold St., with Marte saying the compromise actually resulted in more units — representing the largest influx of new affordable housing in more than 40 years.
Work is yet to begin at any of the locations the Adams administration proposed.
The Adams’ administration also made a last-ditch bid to save the Nolita sculpture garden by designating it as official city parkland before Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration took over in January.
“The proposed settlement on Haven Green means that a badly needed and fully approved project for seniors was undone by celebrities who had Randy Mastro’s cellphone number,” Annemarie Gray, Executive Director of Open New York, said in a statement.
“The Mamdani administration’s job now is to deliver the homes at 22 Suffolk Street, fast,” Gray said. “The Adams administration used the machinery of city government, in bad faith, to kill 123 homes for low-income seniors that had survived every legal and public review thrown at them.
“More than a decade has been lost. Seniors who should have been living in these homes years ago have died waiting. That is the deep injustice at the center of this story, and no settlement erases it.”
Pennrose, Habitat for Humanity and Riseboro did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
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