Kevin Parker, founder of the Kingsbridge National Ice Center project, told community stakeholders at a closed-door meeting today that the massive project is under way despite being stalled for four years.

The meeting, held at Concourse House just blocks from the Kingsbridge Armory, the expected home of the center, was organized by State Sen. Gustavo Rivera.

“I felt confident going into the meeting and I feel much more confident after I left the meeting that the project is going forward,” Rivera told the Norwood News several hours after the meeting wrapped up. “Is the [project] happening tomorrow? Sadly, no.”

Much of the discussion ranged from the complexity of this massive, $350 million project. It included recent financing KNIC received and the processes involved during pre-construction phase, which include detailed architectural maps drafted for such a big project. “It was about putting all the pieces together,” said Rivera of the meeting.

Those invited to the meeting included signatories of the Community Benefits Agreement between KNIC and community representatives, and members of the Armory Community Advisory Board were on hand.

Rivera, a staunch supporter of the KNIC project, defended the closed-door format of the meeting, telling the Norwood News the community is represented by the signatories and members of KNIC’s Community Advisory Council (CAC).

Councilman Fernando Cabrera, who represents the district where the project will be, did not receive a formal invitation. He was instead represented by a CAC member who he appointed.

Representatives from KNIC have had a frosty relationship with Cabrera after they accused him of using his position as a key vote for the project on the New York City Council to ask for funds for a defunct not-for-profit tied to Cabrera weeks before the Council approved the project in 2013. Cabrera has long denied this happened.

Rivera, on the other hand, has a friendlier relationship with KNIC representatives. In early 2016, he hosted an open forum to discuss the status of the project.

Since 2016, KNIC has made progress in the project, securing a state loan to begin its first phase, which hasn’t started yet. The group was approved for the $138 million state loan, which allowed it to seek a construction loan.

The project has also been met with a litany of legal issues between former principals of the project and New York City, which refused to activate the 99-year lease to KNIC until it secured financing.

As the community awaited answers, they barely saw Parker attend community meetings. He was instead represented by colleagues, including NHL legend and KNIC president, Mark Messier.

A source familiar with the genesis of the meeting said there was very little information disseminated on the project’s status for quite some time, prompting community stakeholders to ask for the meeting. KNIC’s legal team kept citing the subsequent lawsuits as one reason it had stayed mum on the project, according to the source.

Parker did not speak to the Norwood News before entering the meeting.

“He could’ve walked away a whole bunch of times and he hasn’t,” said Rivera. “And from what he told us today, he won’t.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.