Pols back rink plan for Kingsbridge Armory

When Councilman Oliver Koppell was an assemblyman, he had an idea inspired by a facility in Lake Placid, where his daughters used to ice skate. He wanted to turn the vacant Kingsbridge Armory into a skating complex. 

Almost 20 years later, Mr. Koppell and a group of Bronx leaders — led by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. — have thrown their support behind turning the vacant building into a hockey and ice-skating mecca.

Standing alongside New York Rangers legend Mark Messier and Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes in front of the Armory on Aug. 23, Mr. Diaz said he thought the Kingsbridge National Ice Center was the best proposal for the vacant 575,000 square-foot building. He said the proposal — led by a group of investors, including banker Kevin Parker with backing by Mr. Messier and Ms. Hughes — is the best plan for the Bronx.

“This development will allow our borough to realize the potential of the Kingsbridge Armory,” Mr. Diaz said.

Mr. Messier said the ice center’s educational programs could help guide youth and instill leadership skills that would help with many facets of their lives. 

“That’s what interested me about this project, lending our hand to the kids in the community, using hockey as a metaphor for life, and providing these kids with skills for life, that no matter what they do, no matter where they go, they can take these lessons with them,” he said.

The proposal includes nine ice skating rinks, including one outdoor rink, an educational component modeled after the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation based in Philadelphia, and 50,000 square feet of community space.

State Sen. Gustavo Rivera, Assemblymen Jose Rivera and Nelson Castro and President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Stuart Appelbaum attended the announcement as well. The councilman representing the area where the Armory is located, Fernando Cabrera, was conspicuously absent. Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz announced his support of the ice center in a press release on Monday.

Mr. Diaz said the city received six proposals and the ice center is one of two finalists being considered by the city’s Economic Development Corporation. The other, according to Mr. Diaz’s office, is a retail and entertainment market dubbed Mercado Mirado and proposed by Young Woo & Associates.

The city would not confirm how many proposals it received but it is expected to make a decision in the fall.

Mr. Diaz urged the city to pick the ice center because he said every single job — 18,000 temporary construction jobs and 170 permanent jobs — would pay a “living wage.” He also said the project will support, rather than compete with, local businesses. He noted that it has an educational component and will bring foot traffic to the area.

Young Woo & Associates said the company would pay their direct employees a “living wage,” but could not require its tenants to do so.

A representative of Mercado Mirabo, the other finalist according to Mr. Diaz, handed out statements at the announcement last week calling politicians’ endorsement of the competing proposal “premature.”

It said the market, with retail and entertainment components, has commitments to collaborate to create a six-screen 4-D multiplex, a national museum of hip-hop, and would include a Crunch gym and New York Gauchos basketball program.

It also said the number of anticipated jobs — 1,500 of which 800 would be permanent — exceeds that of the KNIC proposal. Mercado Mirabo would encourage tenants to pay a “living wage,” according the press release.

In 2009, Mr. Diaz led the opposition to the plan backed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to turn the Armory into a mega mall. Mr. Diaz was instrumental in killing the deal because the developer, The Related Companies, would receive city subsidies and while the company vowed to pay a “living wage” to its employees, could not guarantee that retail tenants would also pay its workers a living wage of $10 an hour with benefits and $11.50 without. 

The deal fell through and the Armory has been vacant since.

In the midst of that battle, Mr. Koppell introduced legislation in early 2010 requiring developers that receive government subsidies pay a “living wage.” The bill passed the City Council earlier this year and will soon be signed into law, but also excludes tenants.  

If either developer accepts more than $1 million in taxpayer subsidies for their project, they will be required by law to pay their own employees a “living wage.” But both developers have said they will not seek government subsidies.

When asked why he’s supporting what’s being referred to as the KNIC proposal, Mr. Diaz said, “I think the other proposal is good but this one is better.”

Mr. Koppell said the proposal is a “win, win, win situation” and would be a “capstone” to his career.