New hope for the Kingsbridge Armory

We (NWBCCC) have been fighting for the future of the Kingsbridge Armory for almost 30 years, and my daughter has been fighting for 20 of them. I don’t want to see her fighting for another 20 years.”

Sandra Lobo, executive director of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition

After more than a decade of proposed plans going unfulfilled, a recent Mayor Adams announcement gave hope to those who are looking to restore the largest pre-World War II armory in the country. 

The future of the Kingsbridge Armory is looking up (again), after NYC Mayor Eric Adams announced two project labor agreements with the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York late last month, costing more than $1 billion for several citywide redevelopment projects, including the nearly 600,000-square-foot Kingsbridge Armory which has been mostly inactive for nearly three decades.

Since 2022, the ‘Together for Kingsbridge Vision Plan,’ a local collaborative effort headed by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), has worked towards finding a way of utilizing one of the few remaining armories in the country for community purposes.

The collaborative effort that makes up the vision plan also consists of neighborhood leaders, organizations, schools, business owners along with elected officials, 

Public workshops have been held by the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, Community Board 7 and the Kingsbridge Heights Community, to encourage community feedback on the Armory’s future — which has resulted in the engagement of more than 4,000 people.

The armory, located on Jerome Avenue/DJ Scott La Rock Boulevard and West Kingsbridge Road, has been mostly closed off to the public since 1996, despite several plans to resurrect the former arsenal which spans five acres.

The co-chairs of the Together for Kingsbridge Vision Plan are Councilmember Pierina Sanchez, who represents the Kingsbridge, Fordham, University Heights and Mount Hope neighborhoods, and Sandra Lobo, executive director of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC).

Lobo said that local entrepreneurship, creating new jobs and community ownership, while still complimenting the area and its residents while providing a community space for Bronxites of all ages, are the blueprint to a clear pathway for the armory.

“Creating and sustaining good jobs is a fundamental principle of the city’s vision to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory, and it starts with day one construction,” Lobo said, who also described the Kingsbridge Armory as a “once-in-a-generation economic engine for the Bronx.” 

Lobo said her personal connection to this particular effort stems from her daughter, now 20, accompanying her mother and father at Kingsbridge Armory rallies and forums in the early-mid 2000s, when her daughter was a toddler.

“We (NWBCCC) have been fighting for the future of the Kingsbridge Armory for almost 30 years, and my daughter has been fighting for 20 of them,” Lobo said. “I don’t want to see her fighting for another 20 years.”

Councilmember Prierina Sanchez, the other co-chair of the vision plan, also sees new hope for the historic structure which has been basically dormant for decades.

“As a daughter of Kingsbridge, raised in the shadows of the Kingsbridge Armory, I know too well the armory has long been a physical manifestation of the immense potential and aspirations of our community,” Sanchez said.

She added that over a nine-month period, the vision plan resulted in feedback from more than 4,000 community members at more than 20 events, as well as 900 survey responses from local residents.

“The [Kingsbridge Armory Vision] Plan calls for a project that brings economic transformation to our communities, prioritizes good paying, union jobs at each stage, protects neighbors and small businesses from displacement and is accessible to the community, while delivering vital investments for the people of the Bronx,” Sanchez added.

Other elected officials involved in the vision plan include Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson, Congress member Adriano Espaillat, state senators Gustavo Rivera and Robert Jackson and state assembly members Jose Rivera and George Alvarez.

The Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, Community Board 7, Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, Kingsbridge Road Merchants Association, Lehman College and Community School District 10 are just some of the several community stakeholders involved in the armory’s vision plan.

After five years of construction, the Kingsbridge Armory, also referred to as the Eighth Regiment Armory, opened in 1917, when it housed the New York National Guard’s Eighth Coast Defense Command.

According to the New York City Economic Development Center’s website, the armory became a popular tourist destination in the 1950s — hosting car races, rodeos and other events.

In 1974, the Kingsbridge Armory was designated as a New York City Landmark, and in 1982, it was listed on the New York State and the National Register of Historical Places

Additionally, part of the armory was used as a homeless shelter through the 1980s.

The armory’s future became precarious when military use at the site was officially discontinued in 1991, and the property was transferred over to city management, and closed to the public in 1996.

In 2013, a newly proposed plan was gaining traction to transform the Kingsbridge Armory into the Kingsbridge National Ice Center, which, once completed, would have been the world’s largest indoor skating rink.

However, this plan never came to fruition and the idea was abandoned in 2021, after financial obligations for the project were not met.

The plan, which was intended to house minor league and non-professional hockey teams and provide a practice facility for figure and speed skaters, was expected to create at least 400 new jobs, according to an interview with an NYCEDC spokesperson back in 2016.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the armory served as an emergency food distribution center.

In August 2023, the year following the formation of the Together For Kingsbridge Vision Plan, NYC Mayor Eric Adams and State Governor Kathy Hochul announced a $200 million grant to redevelop the armory.