Supporters of the Children’s Magical Garden may be receiving an unwelcome Thanksgiving surprise.
This past summer, the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development transferred a parcel at Norfolk and Stanton streets to the Green Thumb Program. This meant the lot, or at least a portion of it, gained permanent community garden status. Activists hoped developer Serge Hoyda, who owns the other parcel, would take down a fence he erected, dividing the space. But negotiations were not fruitful and now, it appears, Hoyda is moving forward with plans to build on the contested lot.
On Friday, documents surfaced in the Department of Buildings database detailing a proposal for a six-story, 7,242 square foot structure. The job is listed as “pending” in the DOB system, meaning it has not yet been approved.
We have a call into City Council member Margaret Chin’s office, who at one point over the summer hoped Hoyda would agree to swap his land for some other parcel, perhaps one located in the East Village. More to come…
