Mayor Adams says the city will move forward with clearing the Elizabeth Street Garden

Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday dashed any hope of short-term City Hall intervention to stop the controversial eviction of Nolita's Elizabeth Street Garden, ending a years-long legal battle by community members seeking to prevent the city's green space from becoming part of the garden. almost finished site of a new affordable housing complex for seniors.

The garden can be evicted from its property as early as Thursday, according to a Manhattan judge's court order last month. During a news conference, Adams said he understands that many New Yorkers love the square, but argued that it is more important to address the city's housing shortage than to preserve the idyllic lawn known for its classical sculptures.

“We have to address the 1.4% vacancy rate,” Adams said. “When I hold my senior town halls at senior centers, I always hear that they are afraid they won’t be able to afford living in the city.”

Adams is pushing to get rid of the garden because he wants to address the city's housing shortage by changing zoning laws to allow more residential development in the five boroughs.

“We need to accommodate New Yorkers,” he said. “The Garden is a beautiful space, but it’s great to be able to host New Yorkers.”

While the city owns the garden property, the space was first leased to Allen Reiver in 1990, who initially used it to store sculptures. Court records show that the garden's operators paid the city $4,000 a month in rent for decades. The main gates to the garden first opened to the public at specific times each week in 2013, around the same time that the city government began considering the property as a potential site for new housing.

In a post on But Ilana Maier, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development, said the garden's operators “refused to tell us what the locations actually are, making it impossible for us to actually agree.” answer.”

A spokesperson for the Garden painted a different picture, claiming in an email that the group was in active discussions with First Deputy Mayor Maria-Torres Springer and other City Hall officials to preserve the space.

HPD officials said the new housing development will also create a public green space on the Elizabeth Street site.

Unless the mayor's office changes its mind, a city marshal could padlock the yard as early as Thursday.