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

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, in a departure from his typically optimistic outlook, said Thursday it will be “nearly impossible” for his incoming administration to complete a long-stalled affordable housing project in Manhattan’s Elizabeth St. Garden in light of outgoing Mayor Eric Adams’ latest effort to block it.

On Wednesday, news broke that Adams’ administration had taken the unusual step of designating the Nolita garden, which sits on city-owned land, as “parkland.” The move, first reported by Gothatmist and independently confirmed by the Daily News, makes it so no construction can take place on the site unless the state Legislature “alienates” the parcel.

The designation seriously hampers a plan — once championed by Adams — to build 123 affordable apartments for seniors on the site while preserving parts of the garden. Adams’ administration introduced that plan and for years dismissed concerns from those who argued it’d wreck a beloved green space, but the mayor reversed himself earlier this year and embarked on an effort to kill the project, culminating in the parkland maneuver.

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

Mamdani also told reporters the move seriously jeopardizes his hope to restart the housing plan.

“The actions that the Adams administration has taken now make it nearly impossible to follow through with that,” said Mamdani.

Asked if he will ask state lawmakers to “alienate” the garden after he’s sworn in as mayor Jan. 1, Mamdani said his focus in Albany will mostly be about enacting his “affordability agenda,” which includes promises to expand subsidized childcare and make the city’s public buses free. His plan to boost taxes on wealthy New Yorkers and corporations requires help on the state level as well.

“What I am coming to terms with is the lengths that the Adams administration has taken to ensure that they are cementing the position that they held the opposite view on just earlier this year,” he said.

Mamdani’s remarks were uncharacteristically pessimistic. As a mayoral candidate, he has embraced a distinctly optimistic tone while talking about the possibilities of city government, even when challenged over the serious obstacles many of his policy proposals face.

Adams’ decision to abandon the Elizabeth St. Garden development came even though he has made building more housing a major focus of his administration as the city continues to reel from skyrocketing rents and a dearth of vacant apartments.

The reversal was in large part driven by First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, as previously reported by The News, 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 cheered the mayor’s change of heart earlier this year.

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

Asked for a response to Mamdani’s Thursday broadside, Adams told reporters he’s following through on his new “promise” to preserve the garden.

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