Mamdani rips Mayor Adams for making Elizabeth St. Garden housing project ‘nearly impossible’

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, departing from his generally optimistic outlook, said Thursday that it would be “nearly impossible” for his new administration to complete a long-stalled affordable housing project in Manhattan’s Elizabeth St. Garden, in light of outgoing Mayor Eric Adams’ latest efforts to block it.

On Wednesday, news broke that Adams’ administration had taken the unusual step of designating Nolita Garden, which sits on city-owned land, as a “park.” The decision, first reported by Gothamist and independently confirmed by the Daily News, means that no construction can take place on the site unless the state legislature “divests” the parcel.

The designation seriously hampers a plan — once championed by Adams — to build 123 affordable senior apartments on the site while preserving parts of the garden. The Adams administration introduced that plan and for years dismissed concerns from those who said it would destroy a beloved green space, but the mayor reversed course earlier this year and embarked on an effort to kill the project, resulting in the parks maneuver.

At an unrelated news conference Thursday morning, Mamdani, who pledged as mayor to get the Elizabeth St. Garden housing project back on track, said he was not surprised that Adams was “using his final weeks and months to cement a legacy of dysfunction and inconsistency.”

Mamdani also told reporters that the move seriously jeopardized his hope of reviving the housing plan.

“The actions taken by the Adams administration make it almost impossible to implement these measures,” Mamdani said.

Asked if he would ask state lawmakers to “divest” the Garden after he is sworn in as mayor on Jan. 1, Mamdani said his focus in Albany will be primarily on implementing his “affordability agenda,” which includes promises to expand subsidized child care and make the city’s public buses free. His plan to raise taxes on wealthy New Yorkers and corporations also requires help at the state level.

“What I understand is the efforts that the Adams administration has made to make sure that they consolidate the position that they had an opposing view on just at the beginning of this year,” he said.

Mamdani’s remarks were unusually pessimistic. As a candidate for mayor, he struck a distinctly optimistic tone in speaking about the possibilities of city government, even when challenged by the serious obstacles facing many of his policy proposals.

Adams’ decision to abandon the Elizabeth St. Garden project came even though he has made building new housing a major goal of his administration as the city continues to suffer from soaring rents and a shortage of vacant apartments.

The reversal was largely driven by First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, as The News previously reported, and came after a number of high-profile celebrities, like Robert De Niro, Patti Smith and Martin Scorcese, banded together to make a public plea for preserving the garden in its current form. Those who support the garden applauded the mayor’s change of heart earlier this year.

In defending his reversal, Adams and Mastro pointed out that they had received a commitment from local Manhattan Councilman Chris Marte to build the housing envisioned for Elizabeth St. Garden on neighboring sites. However, alternative sites will have to go through the city’s land-use planning process, which can take years, while shovels can hit the ground immediately in the city-owned garden.

When asked for a response to Mamdani’s article Thursday, Adams told reporters he was keeping his new “promise” to preserve the garden.

“This is not a legacy of dysfunction,” he said. “It’s about protecting a legacy and the promises I made.”