In what the governor and mayor are calling an unprecedented move, the state’s top elected officials announced on Tuesday a whopping $200 million commitment toward the revitalization of the Kingsbridge Armory.
Located just south of the Jerome Park Reservoir in Kingsbridge Heights, the structure — the largest armory in the nation — was originally opened as a military facility in 1917 but has sat dormant for almost three decades. Since 1996, when the armory was transferred to New York City, multiple community and government initiatives have outlined ambitious plans for its redevelopment — including turning the site into a mall and a huge indoor ice rink — as well as using it as temporary emergency space during the COVID-19 pandemic and after the Twin Parks North West Fire.
But each long-term project proposal has failed, leaving the surrounding community skeptical that they’ll ever be able to enjoy the space again.
And while top New York City officials don’t yet know what the space will become — the Request for Proposal (RFP) process for the site has yet to start — they said on Tuesday that they’re committed to seeing this project cross the finish line.
“Now we’re delivering,” Mayor Eric Adams said during a press conference at the building with Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday. “(The) Kingsbridge Armory has the possibility to become a beacon of employment, entrepreneurship and opportunity.”
The primary industries of interest have been boiled down to film and television, sustainable manufacturing, emerging technologies and urban agriculture. That’s according to the Together for Kingsbridge Vision Plan unveiled during the press conference, which Hochul said will serve “as a road map to transform this building into an economic engine for local jobs and a true asset for the community.”
Adams said the vision plan focuses on providing entrepreneurial opportunity for residents in surrounding neighborhoods, and estimated the redevelopment will create around 1,800 jobs and up to $10 billion in economic impact to the Bronx.
Karla Cabrera-Carrera is the district manager for Bronx Community Board 7, whose community district encompasses the Kingsbridge Armory. She told the Bronx Times in an interview after the announcement that she’s confident the project will actually start to gain some traction — mostly because the new funding is money the city won’t be obligated to pay back. The funding will be split evenly, with both a $100 million grant coming each from the city and state.
“It feels more real to me, like it’s more likely to happen,” Cabrera-Carrera said. “Investments like this really add a positive tone to the whole project.”
She said one of CB7’s primary roles in the armory redevelopment is to uplift the voices of the district to ensure the space can be used for everyone, but especially young people.
“Some of the things that I’ve heard of going to all the different workshops and volunteering to engage the public in conversation — they want to really prioritize youth,” Cabrera-Carrera said.
City Councilmember Pierina Sanchez, whose district includes the armory, echoed this sentiment at the press conference, saying as a child she grew up in the “shadow” of the armory, always “seeing the opportunity in this majestic building.”
“Now as a mother raising my own kid in this neighborhood, I’m filled with pride knowing that our next generation of children are going to grow up not in a West Bronx where they have to wonder ‘What is this beautiful castle, what is happening inside?’” Sanchez said. “But they’re going to be a part of its redevelopment. They’re going to be a part of its future.”
The District 14 councilmember has been heavily involved in the community engagement process as a co-chair of the NYC Economic Development Corporation’s Kingsbridge Armory Working Group. Sanchez said over the past nine months the group has gathered input from approximately 4,000 community members through surveys, workshops and town halls about what they want the armory to serve as.
In March 2022, the New York State Office of General Services announced they were putting forward $10 million to re-do two of the armory’s annexed military buildings, and in the city’s fiscal year 2023 budget Sanchez received $5 million for renovation of the property. That’s all after previous funding efforts had flopped — including $38 million from the state for the ice rink with a $108 million loan to cover development costs.
State Sen. Gustavo Rivera, who represents the Bronx’s 33rd Senatorial District in Albany, told the Bronx Times that he’s confident about the project’s movement because of the level of political cohesion.
“We have all the way from the federal government, the state government, city government, obviously the local leaders here, as well as the community,” Rivera said. “All of that alignment has not really existed in the past.”
The mayor’s office will be releasing RFPs starting next month, and officials said they hope to start construction on the Kingsbridge Armory by 2027.
Reach Camille Botello at cbotello@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
