Bronx Community Board 7 and the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance have forged a partnership to negotiate a Community Benefits Agreement for the coming redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory. It's an interesting partnership given that the two sides were often at odds in 2009 over a previous proposal to turn the Armory into a shopping mall.
After exploring and raising significant funds to make a run at a citywide position, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. announced today that he has decided to scrap his bid for Public Advocate and seek re-election as borough president in 2013. Diaz explained his decision to supporters in an email, saying "the needs of the people of the Bronx are foremost on my mind and in my heart."
Brian Boggan stood nervously in the press box outlined with tape on the side of the St. Nicholas of Tolentine School gym in University Heights. Boggan had come to a rally, organized by the grassroots Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, with an opinion about plans for the long vacant Kingsbridge Armory. As a physical education teacher with a long history of ice skating, Boggan was ready to defend the Kingsbridge National Ice Centers’s bid to fill the empty armory with nine ice rinks.
The two competing bidders looking to redevelop the vacant Kingsbridge Armory into something both profitable and beneficial to the community gave their final pitch to local residents last week at a forum hosted by Community Board 7.
During a forum tonight at Monroe College (6:30 p.m., 2501 Jerome Ave.), the two competing developers looking to revamp the Bronx's long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory will have a chance to talk face-to-face with the community. It might be their last opportunity to sway locals into their corner before the city's Economic Development Corporation, which is controlled by the mayor, makes a decision on which group gets the bid.
The Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, a grassroots group that is the beating heart of the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA), recently hosted a candlelit vigil and press conference, hoping to ensure a positive outcome for the major changes about to take place in their neighborhood.
Welcome back to today’s Bronx News Roundup. We've been on a short hiatus, but here are the stories we’re following this Monday, starting with the weather: Humid with scattered thunderstorms throughout the afternoon, high in the low 80s.
Basketball courts. A shopping center. A gym. While there have been many proposals over the past 20 years for ways to make use of the vacant Kingsbridge Armory, the one concept that seems to be sticking is also the one that is most foreign to Bronx residents: a hockey rink. But Bronx youth aren't too excited about the possibility.
The future of the Kingsbridge Armory has turned into a duel between two bidders, each offering a separate vision to re-shape and re-invigorate the famously long-vacant building. Both groups recently sweetened their deals in hopes of swaying the community and the city into their corner.
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