By March, the court was ordering the sale of the property to the highest bidder.

While the city made a last-ditch bid for the property, they were not able to compete with developers' offers.

When the lot was put up for sale, the minimum bid was set at $650,000. Between March 7 and 10, the city tried once more to stop the sale and make a deal with the broker, Valente and the neighborhood. The council spoke with two environmental organizations, the Trust for Public Land and the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs Division of Conversation Services, as it formed a plan of action.

Ultimately, however, it could not stop the deal in time.

Under Massachusetts law, the city could only offer 125 percent of the assessed value averaged over the last three years. The city's bid came in around $600,000, the city manager said in the March 22 City Council meeting.

The property went to a yet-undeclared developer for a price "in the $800 thousands," realty company Hunneman-Coldwell Bankers told the city manager.

In the Neighborhood

Now neighbors must deal with a developer they do not know, one who likely has little interest in keeping the property a public park.

According to those involved in the sale, the developer was probably aware that a park existed on the lot when buying it.

"If you're going to pay $800,000, you visit the property," says neighbor Michael H. Isenberg.

Isenberg is the chair of the Friends of Putnam Park, a neighborhood organization that has formed to combat development of the lot.

The organization is affiliated with the nonprofit organization Cambridge Citizens for Livable Neighborhoods, and has found support among other Cambridge environmental groups like the Cambridge Greenspace Alliance.

Isenberg, 24, is an environmental consultant at Arthur D. Liddle, Inc. in Cambridge.

A Providence native, Isenberg is visibly excited when he talks about his neighborhood's park.

"I wouldn't be so excited about this park if it wasn't super-cool," he says.