After months of delay, speculation and rumors, city officials confirmed last week that the Related Companies, a major Manhattan development firm, has indeed been selected to redevelop the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory into a retail shopping center.

Without offering much detail, Related’s winning proposal envisions the armory, a 575,000-square-foot castle-like structure (it encompasses an entire city block), as a mix of medium- and small-sized retail establishments called simply, “Shops at the Armory.”

The development would also include a movie theatre, a recreational facility, banquet space, outdoor open space for a café and seasonal farmers market as well as 400 parking spaces.

The Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which is managing the project for the city, said Related will spend about $310 million to purchase and revamp the armory. The project will generate 1,800 construction jobs during the renovation and 2,000 permanent jobs when it opens for business, the EDC said.

Critics say Related’s plan amounts to nothing more than a glorified mall and lacks many of the benefits the community hoped would be included in the winning bid, including schools and guarantees for good jobs (see “Residents Rally for Armory Benefits” on this page).

But urban development experts say the creation of a destination retail center will nonetheless be a boon for the community. Ultimately, they say, a new attractive mall will bring more retail choices and jobs for local residents and increased economic activity for the area.

“Every community likes to have retail choices,” said Jonathan Bowles, the director of the Center for an Urban Future, a New York research group that focuses on urban development issues. “In the past, the Bronx hasn’t had as many choices as other regions. You’re going to have a place that offers better deals than, say, your local bodega.”    

Some local residents agree. Sandra Erickson, a member of the local community board who’s worked in real estate development in the Bronx for 20 years, said, “It shouldn’t just be people in the suburbs” who have access to these kind of retail choices.

Erickson liked how the project called for “a lot of smaller and mid-sized retail spaces,” which she hopes will allow for a diverse range of established national chains as well as an opportunity for start-ups and incubators to develop local businesses.

Just the fact that the project attracted a big-name retail developer like Related, which is also currently developing two other large-scale Bronx retail projects, the Gateway Center at the Bronx Terminal Market and The Hub in the South Bronx, speaks volumes about how far the Bronx has come in the past 20 years, Bowles said.

For years, the “outer boroughs were frustrated, because no one would come in and do any retail developments because they didn’t feel it was a viable option to develop there,” he said.

Erickson has experienced this first hand. “I’ve been working in the area since the mid-’80s and this never would have happened back then,” she said. ”We couldn’t even get mortgages signed. Now, I think the Bronx has really turned a corner. We’ve got lots of banks here now doing commercial loans and there’s tons of development going on.”

New development can have a positive domino-effect, Erickson said, especially in low-income communities. A few years ago, Erickson worked on a development project in a drug-infested neighborhood in Morrisania. She said after the new building was complete, other buildings and businesses in the area made renovations to keep pace.

“It has the effect where everything rises up,” Erickson said. On the other hand, “When everything is old and tired looking, there’s no motivation” to make your shop or building more appealing.

Bowles said the research on what a big retail mall does to surrounding businesses is mixed, but that increased activity and more lighting in the area will only benefit the community by making it a safer place to live and shop. Plus, it’s going to be an attractive place to spend time.

“The most important thing is that they’re finally putting something in there,” said Mitchell Moss, an urban policy professor at New York University. And, he added, “With Related, you know you’re going to get a good-looking development.”

EDC spokesperson Janel Patterson said the city chose Related’s plan largely for its aesthetic design features. ”The open atrium and circulation pattern is user-friendly and emphasize the volume and majestic nature of the building,” Patterson said in an e-mail. She added, the “design has received favorable preliminary, informal reviews from SHPO [State Historic Preservation Office] and NYC Landmarks.”

As far as jobs inside are concerned, the community should hold no fantasies that residents will build careers at a retail-centric armory, said Bowles, whose group researches workforce development issues. But it will provide jobs that will allow people to get in the work force and develop invaluable job skills.

“When it comes to employment for low-income and low-skilled people in the city, retail employers provide that first rung of experience,” Bowles said. Many people who cannot get or hold down a job lack so-called “soft skills,” such as showing up to work on time or dressing appropriately, he said, adding, “You get that through experience.”  

Moss agrees. “Retail employment is a great way to get into the labor market,” he said.

Even more than  providing first-time jobs and attractive community space, Moss said retail development says something else about a community. “Retailing is the sign of a strong local population,” he said. “I think this is a sign that the Bronx is about to really take off.”