As part of a public relations blitz leading up to the meat of the city’s land use review process, which starts with a public hearing at Lehman College tomorrow night, the Kingsbridge National Ice Center named New York Rangers hockey legend Mark Messier as its CEO.

Earlier this year, the group calling itself the Kingsbridge National Ice Center (or KNIC) won the bid to redevelop the massive and vacant Kingsbridge Armory, which is owned by the city, into the world’s largest ice sports complex, featuring nine full-sized ice rinks and a 5,000-seat arena.

Like all projects being built on city property, the ice complex must be vetted through the Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP), which includes reviews a community board, borough president, City Council and mayoral levels of government. The board and borough president have advisory roles, while the City Council and the mayor have the ability to veto an unpopular project.

In 2009, the Council voted against a Bloomberg-backed plan to turn the Armory into a giant shopping mall, marking the first time the Council had voted against a project supported by the mayor.

Tomorrow night, at Lehman College’s Lovinger Theater (250 Bedford Park Blvd.), Community Board 7 will be hosting a public hearing about the ice center project from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Afterward, the board will vote on whether or not to approve the project, which include zoning changes. KNIC representative will give a presentation and board members and the public will have a chance to ask questions.

Last week in an interview, Messier said he was thrilled about the opportunity to head KNIC, which he expects to have a big impact on the community, specifically, and the game of hockey, in general. He held an open session with members of the media earlier today. Messier, a Hall of Fame performer during his playing days, won the National Hockey League title with the New York Rangers in 1994. He’s been a supporter of the project since it’s early stages. (We’ll have more from Messier in this week’s print edition of NN.)

Although some board members have expressed concerns about the project — most notably, will Bronxites actually use or gain from the use of the facility? — the ice center has the support of Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and local Councilman Fernando Cabrera. Former CB7 Chairman Paul Foster voiced his support for the project during a press conference last spring as well.

But there were big changes on the board this summer. Foster is out and former vice chair, Adaline Walker-Santiago is in. There’s also a new district manager in place, Socrates Caba, a former board member who most recently worked Bronx AIDS Services. Regardless, the project is expected to face little opposition.

The public is invited to the hearing tomorrow night, but only board members will be voting on it.

Jonathan Richter, who will shepherd the project through the land review process, said he doesn’t expect much push-back on the project, given it’s widespread support.

Before it won the bid, KNIC entered into a Community Benefits Agreement with more than the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) and 30 community-based organizations. The agreement, which includes 50,000-square-feet of rent-free community space and free ice time for local youth, will amount to $1.7 billion in total benefits for the Bronx and its residents over the 99-year lease for the Armory. Experts have said the benefits agreement is the first substantial agreement of its kind in New York City.

Richter said the only changes from the original proposal was the removal of a planned outdoor rink and the addition of more parking spaces. He said the group completed its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in “record time” and noted that the traffic concerns were significantly lower than the shopping mall project proposed four years ago. He expects the entire review process to be completed by the end of the year and construction to begin in late 2014. If everything goes according to plan, the ice center will open for business in 2017.

We’ll have more on the Armory deal and review process coming up in this week’s paper and online.