Members of the Children’s Magical Garden are going to court to take possession of a portion of the garden owned by a private developer. They filed a lawsuit today in state Supreme Court, making what’s known as an “adverse possession” claim.
Last year, Serge Hoyda enraged garden activists when he put up a fence dividing a parcel at 157 Norfolk St. from an adjacent city-owned lot. In January, he sold the property to a Yonkers-based real estate firm, the Horizon Group, for $3,350,000. The new owner is planning a six-story residential project.
Now the garden group is suing both the current and former owners, asking for unspecified damages and arguing that they are the rightful owners because they were in possession of the property, while Hoyda abandoned it.
Garden activists are holding a press conference tomorrow morning at 7:15. The Children’s Magical Garden is located at Norfolk and Stanton streets.
