Mayor Adams Announces Agreement to Create Over 620 new Affordable Homes in Lower Manhattan, Make Elizabeth Street Garden a Publicly-Accessible Park

Agreement Between Adams Administration and Councilmember Marte Will Create Over

Five Times More Affordable Housing Than Originally Planned for Elizabeth Street Garden

Agreement Will Make Local Garden Publicly Accessible Between 8 AM and 8 PM,
Enforceable by City of New York, Following Strong Advocacy From Community Members

Agreement Continues to Show Adams Administration’s Record as
Most Pro-Housing Administration in New York City History

NEW YORK – RealEstateRama – New York City Mayor Eric Adams today announced a signed agreement with New York City Councilmember Christopher Marte to more than quintuple the amount of new affordable housing to be created in New York City Council District 1 over what was originally planned for the Elizabeth Street Garden site — building over 620 new affordable homes — while preserving the iconic Elizabeth Street Garden and making it a publicly-available garden for all New Yorkers to enjoy. As part of the agreement, the city will permanently pause plans for redevelopment of the garden while Councilmember Marte will support rezoning three sites in his district to create new affordable housing. While the original housing proposal for the Elizabeth Street Garden location would have created just 123 affordable homes, the agreement announced today will create more than 620 new homes across all three sites, building over five times more affordable housing than originally planned through the initial proposal alone. Additionally, the park will expand its hours and become more accessible to all New Yorkers, and could, if the city chooses to do so, become a part of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The agreement announced today builds on the Adams administration’s record as the most pro-housing administration in New York City history. In addition to?creating record amounts of affordable housing?two years in a row,?passing the first citywide zoning reform?in 60 years, and?advancing five neighborhood plans to create jobs and new housingacross the city, the Adams administration advanced nearly 2,000 new homes last week alone through its “City of Yes for Families” initiative, creating new housing in Coney Island East New York in Brooklyn and Melrose in the Bronx — all helping move closer to reaching Mayor Adams’ moonshot goal of creating 500,000 new homes by 2032.

“The best way to tackle our city’s housing crisis is to build as much affordable housing as we can. The agreement announced today will help us meet that mission by creating more than five times the affordable housing originally planned while preserving a beloved local public space and expanding access to it,” said?Mayor Adams. “This is what smart, responsible leadership looks like: bringing people together to reach common sense solutions that create more housing and protect green space. Whether it’s creating record amounts of affordable housing two years in a row, passing the first citywide rezoning effort in 60 years, or reaching agreements like this to build more housing wherever we can, we are proud to be the most pro-housing administration in New York City history.” 

“This incredible win-win for our community shows exactly why we should never give up,” said Councilmember Marte. “Since the beginning of this fight almost a decade ago, we’ve been saying that we can save community gardens and build new affordable housing. And with this historic agreement with Mayor Eric Adams, this will be the largest influx of new, permanently affordable housing in Lower Manhattan in decades. Our rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods have been desperate for homes that working people can actually afford — and now we will have hundreds of new neighbors, and old neighbors with new homes, right here, all while saving a beloved community garden that is a home-away-from-home for Lower Manhattan families.” 

“This is an example of good government working to achieve mutual objectives through partnerships that produce results otherwise unattainable,” said First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro. “We will now be creating more than five times the affordable housing in this district than would otherwise have been possible from taking this garden site alone and, at the same time, preserving this community garden in an area largely bereft of parkland. That’s a win-win for everybody.” 

Under the agreement announced today, Elizabeth Street Garden will remain a community garden, and the city will require it to remain open for public use from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM daily. Additionally, Councilmember Marte will advance rezoning efforts across three sites in Council District 1 to create more than 620 new affordable homes. The first two sites are lots in the immediate vicinity that the Adams administration and Councilmember Marte have agreed to pursue rezoning through a Uniformed Land Use Review Process (ULURP) and Urban Development Action Area Project designation. The first, 156-166 Bowery, is a collection of seven contiguous multiblock lots between Broome and Kenmare Streets, collectively comprising approximately 15,000 square feet and currently zoned for market-rate housing. Under today’s agreement, the site will be rezoned to admit at least 123 additional units of affordable apartment for seniors on top of the planned housing — alone totaling the same number of units as originally planned for the garden. The mixed-use development will be done in partnership with the Kinsmen Property Group. Additionally, the city will move to rezone a city-owned lot at 22 Suffolk Street, comprising approximately 15,500 square feet, which will be used to generate approximately 200 units of all-affordable housing. These two new sites will join the recently announced 100 Gold Street, where rezoning efforts will unlock 1,000 new homes, including at least 300 units of affordable housing. Finally, in reaching this agreement, the city reserves the right to build housing on the site in the future if the rezonings that create the agreed-upon hundreds of additional housing units across these three locations do not occur. 

The agreement comes on the heels of a series of announcements this past week by Mayor Adams alone that advanced  nearly 2,000 new homes across the city to help families find an affordable place to live. Since entering office, Mayor Adams has made historic investments to create more affordable housing and ensure more New Yorkers have a place to call home. The Adams administration is advancing several robust neighborhood plans that, if adopted, would deliver more than 50,000 units over the next 15 years to New York neighborhoods. In addition to the?Bronx-Metro North Station Area Plan?and the?Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan, both of which have been passed by the New York City Council, the Adams administration is advancing plans in?Midtown South?in Manhattan, as well as?Jamaica?and?Long Island City?in Queens. 

Moreover, last December, Mayor Adams?celebrated the passage of “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity,”?the most pro-housing proposal in city history that will build 80,000 new homes over 15 years and invest $5 billion towards critical infrastructure updates and housing. Last June, City Hall and the City Council agreed to an?on-time, balanced, and fiscally-responsible $112.4 billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2025?Adopted?Budget?that invested $2 billion in capital funds across FY25 and FY26 to New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the New York City Housing Authority’s capital budgets. In total, the Adams administration has committed $24.7 billion in housing capital in the current 10-year plan as the city faces a generational housing crisis. Mayor Adams celebrated?back-to-back record breaking fiscal years, as well as?back-to-back calendar years, in both creating and connecting New Yorkers to affordable housing Last spring, the city celebrated the?largest 100 percent affordable housing project in 40 years?with the?Willets Point transformation

Building on the success of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, Mayor Adams unveiled his City of Yes for Families strategy earlier this year to build more homes and create more family-friendly neighborhoods across New York City. Under City of Yes for Families, the Adams administration is advancing more housing on city-owned sites,?creating new tools to support homeownership, and?building more housing alongside schools, playgrounds, grocery stores, accessible transit stations, and libraries.

Further, the Adams administration is using every tool available to address the city’s housing crisis. Mayor Adams?announced multiple new tools, including a $4 million state grant, to help New York City homeowners create accessory dwelling unitsthat will not only help older adults afford to remain in the communities they call home but also help build generational wealth.?In addition to creating more housing opportunities, the Adams administration is actively working to strengthen tenant protections and support homeowners. The?<Partners in Preservation program?was expanded citywide in 2024 through a $24 million investment in local organizations to support tenant organizing and combat harassment in rent-regulated housing. The?Homeowner Help Desk, a trusted one-stop shop for low-income homeowners to receive financial and legal counseling from local organizations, was also expanded citywide in 2024 with a $13 million funding commitment. 

Finally, Mayor Adams and members of his administration?successfully advocated for new tools?in the 2024 New York state budget that will spur the creation of urgently needed housing. These tools include a new tax incentive for multifamily rental construction, a tax incentive program to encourage office conversions to create more affordable units, lifting the arbitrary “floor-to-area ratio” cap that held back affordable housing production in certain high-demand areas of the city, and the ability to create a pilot program to legalize and make safe basement apartments. 

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