City officials on Tuesday unveiled plans to transform the historic Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx into a “vibrant, mixed-use” hub known as “El Centro Kingsbridge.”
Phase one of the project is expected to deliver an event venue, sports fields for youth academies, cultural and commercial space and more than 25,000 square feet of community space, officials including Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a release. It will also include an educational facility for workforce development.
Phase two of the redevelopment, according to the release, will feature 450 units of permanently affordable rental housing next to the armory.
8th Regiment Partners LLC is spearheading the redevelopment, which will be designed to bring economic and social opportunities to the Bronx, officials said.
“At the Kingsbridge Armory, our administration saw a historic yet underutilized site as an opportunity to dream and deliver a bold, forward-looking vision for the Bronx,” Adams said in a statement. “In just one location, we’re delivering affordable housing for our neighbors, sports fields for our children, community spaces for our families, and so much more. The future of the Bronx rests in the Kingsbridge Armory.”
The armory, which opened in 1917 as a military facility and landed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, has remained largely unused since 1996. It briefly served as an emergency center during Hurricane Sandy, the COVID-19 pandemic and following a fatal fire in the Bronx in 2022.
“For decades, Bronx residents have been promised a new Kingsbridge Armory — and we’re partnering with the city to finally get the job done,” Hochul said in her own statement. “This transformative project will unite communities across the Bronx, provide spaces for recreation and academics, and deliver much-needed affordable housing.”
The redevelopment is backed by a $200 million investment from Adams and Hochul, supplemented by about $15 million in additional funding from local leaders and federal grants, the release said.
The environmental review of the project is expected to start this winter, with a public review process known as the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP, expected to begin in mid-2025, according to the release.
This redevelopment effort marks the third attempt to revitalize the long-underutilized site.
In 2009, under then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the city proposed developing the space into a mall, but the proposal was defeated when the developer refused to pay workers a living wage.
Then in 2013, the Bloomberg administration proposed a giant ice skating rink at the location. However, the project never got off the ground due to a court battle between the developer and the city’s Economic Development Corporation over funding.
According to the news release, construction of “El Centro Kingsbridge” will be carried out under a project labor agreement to ensure fair wages for workers.