Elmhurst parking lot buyers must be warned of graves below, state argues
A Queens lot covering an African burial ground faces a foreclosure sale, and the state wants every bidder told about the remains and the duty to protect them.
A parking lot in Elmhurst, Queens, that covers an African burial ground is headed for a foreclosure sale. The state’s top lawyer wants every bidder warned about what lies under the asphalt, and Attorney General Letitia James filed a motion Friday morning to intervene in the sale.
The filing asks a court to declare that whoever buys 47-11 90th St. knows who is buried on the property and understands the legal duty to protect those remains. “Every New Yorker deserves to rest in peace,” James said, adding that this includes the people laid there generations ago.
New York’s Unmarked Burial Site Protection Act is the law her office is relying on to step in. James said the ground has already been disturbed, and she worries that buyers could take ownership without ever learning of that responsibility. A court-appointed referee is handling the sale. James wants that referee to give each potential buyer her filing along with the burial law itself.
Calls for the city to buy the Elmhurst burial ground
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. has demanded that the city purchase the lot and build a memorial there to the enslaved and formerly enslaved people it holds. He scheduled a Friday news event on the lot, aimed at getting Mayor Zohran Mamdani to step in.
Councilmember Shekar Krishnan, whose district includes the lot, backs that push. So does the Rev. Kimberly Detherage of St. Mark AME Church, which once owned the land and is still steward of the remains. Krishnan called the site “hallowed ground.”
Mamdani has not yet responded to the request to buy the lot. Instead he has pointed to a pending application at the Landmarks Preservation Commission that would make the site a landmark.
From 1818 cemetery to illegal parking lot
According to records, the cemetery dates to 1818. Leaders of the congregation that grew into St. Mark’s AME acquired the land in 1828, one year after slavery ended in New York state. After the church let the property go during the 1930s, it became home to a factory. In 2009, 90 Queens LLC bought the property and tore down the factory for a planned luxury condo project.
That project stopped in 2011, when a backhoe hit an iron coffin. Inside was a young African American woman, age 25. Archaeological teams that later studied the ground found that hundreds of remains were likely still in place.
By 2022 the LLC had defaulted on its mortgage. Last year the owner paved the land and ran it as a parking lot for junked cars, among them abandoned vehicles towed there under an NYPD program. The city Department of Buildings found the lot illegal, issued multiple violations and ordered it closed. Agency spokesperson Andrew Rudansky said all the vehicles were gone as of earlier this week.
Quick answers
Where is the African burial ground in Elmhurst?
It lies under a lot at 47-11 90th St. in Elmhurst, Queens, most recently used as a parking lot.
Will New York City buy the burial ground site?
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has not responded to calls for the city to buy it. He has pointed to a pending landmark application instead.
Are remains still buried at the site?
Yes. Archaeological teams found that hundreds of remains were likely still there.
