Midtown's Newly Reopened Garden To Stay Open Forever

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — The small Midtown garden that recently reopened to the public after years of private use will now stay open forever, according to a local community board member involved in the effort.

The gates first swung open Oct. 8 to the garden at St. Vartan Park, located on the east end of the block-sized green space on First Avenue between East 35th and 36th streets. Since at least 2000, the garden had been the exclusive domain of St. Vartan Preschool, a fee-based institution whose control over the space had been sanctioned by the city — and some evidence suggests it had been off-limits even before the school was founded.

For months, neighbors led a campaign to open the lush garden to the public, citing the dire lack of green space in surrounding Murray Hill. The Parks Department relented earlier this fall, allowing it to open in October for a two-month trial period.

That trial came to an end on Wednesday. But Kevin O'Keefe who chairs Community Board 6's parks committee, had good news for his fellow board members when they met to discuss the issue that evening: Manhattan Parks Commissioner William T. Castro had just called him to say that the garden could remain open.

First, the garden must close for three to four months to be prepared for public use during the winter, O'Keefe said. That closure will start around the end of December, with a planned reopening date of April 6 — the start of "a long and healthy public run for many generations," O'Keefe said.

Helping out in the effort to prepare the garden for permanent use will be a crew of volunteers formed by Community Board 6 last week, who plan to tend to the space every weekday through February.

The garden's long-awaited opening was celebrated by many in October. Others felt differently — namely, the founder of the preschool, who had spent years cultivating the garden, planting tulips and maintaining its trees and rose bushes while remaining steadfastly opposed to opening it up for public use.

"It's just a handful of pushy people who want to be on the grass, and I'm worried for the grass," school founder Stefanie Soichet told Patch in September.

Related coverage:

• Gated-Off Midtown Garden Opens For First Time In Decades
• Midtown Garden Reopens To Public After School's 20-Year Takeover