The ongoing project for what will become of the historic Kingsbridge Armory is heading into a new phase, according to a representative from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC).
Inder Grewal, the senior project manager of neighborhood strategies at the EDC said at the Feb. 14 Community Board 7 meeting that the initiative will head into Phase 4 — which he said will focus on tradeoffs for the facility.
“We started off this process with understanding the existing conditions of the neighborhood that informed our discussion around community values and needs,” Grewal said at the meeting last Tuesday. “Then we moved on to possibilities for the armory.”
The armory — which originally opened as a military facility in 1917 — was put on the National Register of Historical Places in 1982 and has mostly been vacant since 1996. Since then, multiple proposed renovations have failed.
Last month, New York City Councilmember Pierina Sanchez, whose District 14 includes the site of the armory, co-hosted a public meeting with the EDC last month to hear a local perspective on what the structure should become. Some of those ideas included turning the armory into a museum, convention space, media or film hub, sustainability education center and a multi-purpose athletic building.
Bronxites float ideas for Kingsbridge Armory at public meeting
Grewal said during the CB7 meeting that the EDC has now collected ample community input between the two workshops the department has hosted — which drew more than 400 people total — as well as the 10 focus groups and more than 300 online survey responses.
“We’ve heard from close to if not more than 1,000 people up to this point,” he said. “In terms of community assets and strengths, people listed that the people, creativity, diversity, the borough’s rich history, the green spaces and local organizing power are the key assets that the community possesses.”
From those assets, Grewal said that engaged participants have stated that they value uplifting local entrepreneurs, prioritizing youth and the older adult community, and “putting the Bronx on the map.”
The EDC has taken the locals’ values and whittled the main points down into six buckets that could inspire options for the armory: a recreation and entertainment space, a community gathering place, an attraction for cultural engagement, a small business hub, an education center, and a health and wellness space.
“So taking in all this information, we’re going to continue our community engagement,” Grewal said.
Another public workshop for the Kingsbridge Armory project is set to be held on March 18, although the location has not yet been decided. Additionally, the EDC is hosting virtual office hours that are open to the public every Friday. To register for an office hour Zoom link, visit the Together For Juntos Para Kingsbridge website.
Grewal said the EDC hopes to craft a comprehensive vision document for the project as part of Phase 5 by May of this year.
Reach Camille Botello at cbotello@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
