Hope for the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory, the largest armory in the world and one of the northwest Bronx’s most fascinating and potential-filled pieces of undeveloped property, was resurrected in 2012.
In his annual State of the City address, held in the Bronx last January, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the city would release another request for proposals (RFP) for the Armory.
The announcement marked a sharp turnaround from two years prior when the City Council, backed by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and the community-led Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance, voted down a proposal to turn the Armory into a shopping mall. After the vote, the mayor said he couldn’t see the Armory being developed in the “foreseeable future.”
But momentum was building for a new Armory project. Diaz had formed a star-studded Armory Task Force to explore development options, which yielded lots of ideas, but little in terms of solid financing.
Then along came Kevin Parker, a former Deutsche Bank executive and Long Island hockey enthusiast, who put together a group of investors who wanted to turn the Armory into the world’s largest ice sports complex. They enlisted big name ice sports stars in New York Rangers hockey legend Mark Messier and Olympic figure skater Sarah Hughes to back their project and installed a youth component modeled after a successful inner-city program in Philadelphia. And perhaps more importantly, they said they would finance the project without taxpayer assistance.
The potential of Parker’s project, now known as the Kingsbridge Armory National Ice Center, allowed the city, and its Economic Development Corporation, to issue the RFP just days after Bloomberg’s January announcement.
Though the ice project was widely considered the front-runner, an alternative emerged out of the RFP process. It came from Young Woo & Associates, the cutting edge design firm that created the successful Chelsea Market. The proposal envisioned the Armory as a futuristic town square type of market that would include recreational, entertainment, retail and business incubator components.
The project evolved over the spring and summer months to include the promise of a youth basketball program run by the Bronx-based New York Gauchos and the inclusion of the nation’s first Hip Hop Museum with backing from the Afrika Bambaataa, the Zulu Nation and other Bronx hip hop pioneers. Young Woo has also said it would finance the project on its own.
Both groups have said they would create at least 175 living wage jobs ($10 an hour plus benefits or $11.50 an hour without benefits), with Young Woo saying it would create a total of 900 permanent jobs. Both would offer an exciting alternative to another shopping mall.
In late August, Diaz and a handful of other Bronx politicians, including State Senator Gustavo Rivera (who lives two blocks from the Armory) and Councilman Oliver Koppell (who wanted the Armory to be an ice center 15 years ago), voiced their strong support for the ice complex, which would include nine Olympic-sized rinks and a 5,000-seat arena. Councilman Fernando Cabrera, who represents the area surrounding the Armory, decided not to take a position on which project he preferred.
The rumor was that the EDC would be making its decision between the two competing groups in a matter of weeks or by the end of September. But as of Dec. 18, the city still had not chosen a winner for the Armory project and it was not on the agenda for the EDC’s final executive committee meeting of the year, scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 19.
The EDC is reportedly in negotiations with both developers, which could be the cause of the holdup. In the meantime, another ice center proposal is making headway just a few miles upstate in Rye Brook, which could eat into the Armory ice center’s earning potential.
The clock is ticking. Once a project is chosen, it must pass through the city’s exhaustive land use review process (ULURP), which could take a year or more. By then, we could have a new mayor and a new Council Speaker and all bets would be off.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the Dec. 27, 2012-Jan. 9 2013 print edition of the Norwood News. It’s one of several article recapping the top stories of 2012.
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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.
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Yah, nothing sounds fishy about releasing a 500pg RFP in just a few days. That was clearly written for ice group… again, nobody here will be interested in ice hockey, so why is the city trying to push ice sports on Bronx residents?
“The potential of Parker’s project, now known as the Kingsbridge Armory National Ice Center, allowed the city, and its Economic Development Corporation, to issue the RFP just days after Bloomberg’s January announcement.”
We do not need NINE skating rinks (or 3 or 5 or whatever they end up being). It is not something our community wants. Forget about a Community Benefits Agreement. Before we discuss that we need to admit that this IS NOT the project in our bets interests. Maybe in the best interests of others but NOT THE COMMUNITY.
Further, CBA are not legally binding and we have previous examples that a CBA is a good-faith effort.
In case this was not public, there are strong rumors that the RINC folks do not have the sufficient funds for NINE rinks and they’re looking at lowering their proposal to just 3 or 5 rinks. Either way, this proposal, even if it’s selected at the end, is not the one aligned with THIS community. CM Koppell represents a district with much higher household median incomes, no where near poverty levels in our neighborhood. Plus, it’s NOT HIS DISTRICT.
It is important to recognize who are we to serve with this development. It is obvious that the ice skating proposal does not fit the demographics of this community and the decision makers have to understand the impact that this great initiative will have in the community…..the ice skating development is not what will bring this community forward.
Personally 1 skating rink would be cool. The rest of the space should be used for a major chain like walmart etc
First off, Happy New Year fellow Bronxites!
Here we are in the year 2013 and we have yet had a decision made by Economic Development Corporation (EDC) on what is going to eventually happen with our beloved Kingsbridge Armory.
Meanwhile, it seems like there seems to be more development outside of the Armory, a MillionTreesNYC has planted fourteen trees on the sidewalk near the Armory and new fences were also put up on 195th Street side of the Armory between the Jerome and Reservoir Avenues.
Well, those who know me already know how I feel about what should be done with the Kingsbridge Armory.
If not, this is my opinion.
I feel that after years of numerous rallies, proposals, protests and hearings over how to best redevelop the historic Kingsbridge Armory the New York City’s Economic Development Corporation should not only make a selection that will create jobs and generate economic opportunities in the Bronx but also listen to the Kingsbridge community needs.
The Kingsbridge Ice Center proposal of nine Olympic-sized ice rinks (or maybe less as per Haile Rivera’s comment above), includes one 4,000-5,000-seat arena to be used for ice sports like hockey, figure skating, and speed skating is seriously not something that the community needs or wants.
Frankly, I feel ice hockey is an expensive sport and would be out of reach and interest especially for the kids in this community.
Whereas, the other proposal submitted by Young Woo & Associates, which is a mixed-use project called, Mercado Mirabo, will have a concert venue, sports stadium, a rock climbing wall, a six-screen movie theater and a creative market that would allow local vendors and entrepreneurs an opportunity to develop their businesses. It will also have community space for various non-profit groups/organizations.
It will be similar to their Dekalb Market in Brooklyn (which I had the pleasure and opportunity to visit); where they took a vacant lot and turned it into a prosperous local market using recycled shipping containers.
Not just ice skating rinks.
In conclusion, in the next couple of weeks, months, hopefully not years. after all is said, done and decided, I am hopeful that we are going to have a redeveloped Kingsbridge Armory, where there’s a living wage, more options than just ice skating rinks for the community and most importantly for it to become a destination point for us all.
Thank you.
Richard Liriano