780 3rd Avenue is home to a POPS—a Privately Owned Public Space—legally required to remain accessible, well maintained, and open to the public 24 hours a day.

For a significant period after its opening, the public plaza outside the building featured long, open concrete benches—as intended by the landscape architects MPFP and approved by the City of New York.

Now, much of that seating has been buried under ivy.

This isn’t accidental overgrowth. The ivy was planted by the building’s owners, Sovereign Partners, and left to spread across the benches—particularly those facing 3rd Avenue. Security guards have even been seen telling people they’re not allowed to sit where the ivy has been pushed aside.

This isn’t just bad landscaping—it’s an aggressive tactic to obstruct unhoused folks from using the space.

It violates the spirit and the letter of the city’s POPS agreement, which grants developers bonus floor area in exchange for maintaining publicly accessible amenities.

We’re calling on Sovereign Partners to restore the plaza to its original design and purpose by:

•Removing the ivy from designated seating areas
•Properly cleaning and maintaining the benches
•Training staff to respect the public’s right to use this space

Trim the ivy. Restore the benches. Public space is for the public.