Last January, advocates descended on the Kingsbridge Armory to demand, as they have for several years, that schools be included in its redevelopment. While frustrating hurdles remain, the dream came much closer to fruition in 2004.

During a hearing in June, which finally brought together residents and officials to discuss the project, the city agreed that schools were a feasible addition to the armory’s redevelopment mix. Advocates were overjoyed to learn that the Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which oversees the project, and the Department of Education finally were behind putting schools on the site of the armory’s rear annex.

“We would love to have that space,” said Jamie Smarr, who oversees the city’s Educational Construction Fund, during a community district education council meeting last month. “We could probably put two or three schools on that property.”

But the city has yet to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for the project. The city refuses to release an RFP until the two National Guard units remaining in the armory’s annex, located on West 195th Street between Jerome and Reservoir avenues, are relocated. The state is willing to move the companies, but the city must take the lead in finding a location.

EDC has not been particularly eager to spearhead that search. Assemblyman Jose Rivera indicated last fall that he would flex his political muscle to get the state and city to sit down together, but a meeting has yet to occur.

But the armory, one of the largest and most frustrating local development projects, finally seems to be weighing on local officials’ minds. Rivera and Council Member Oliver Koppell, not typically political collaborators, have been talking about finding a suitable location for the Guard.

“We are hoping to work together on it,” Koppell said. “We think the concept of putting schools on the periphery makes sense.”

Koppell said last November that he and Rivera had discussed the armory over a business lunch, and he indicated last month that things still looked hopeful. “There may be light at the end of the tunnel,” Koppell said.

Members of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, who helped formulate the redevelopment proposal now favored by Bronx politicians, have continued to meet with Rivera. They hope the influential Bronx County Democratic leader can use his connections to real estate developers to find a possible location for the Guard.

In other armory news, one of the Guard units, the 145th Maintenance Company, shipped out for training last November before its 200 members are deployed to Iraq. The Company, charged with fixing weapons, equipment and vehicles, was expected to leave for the Middle East next month.