RFP for new armory expected next week

We will ask them if you have the money that you say you do. We will ask who is a part of your team. And did you look at the vision plan?”

FERNANDO ORTIZ, vice president, Economic Development Corp.

What new Kingsbridge Armory could look like

A snapshot of the design of the proposed redevelopment of the historic Kingsbridge Armory was on full display Sunday outside the famed building.

Three different models of what the 570,000 square feet building would look like if the community vision plan is carried out were under a tent Sunday for hundreds to see. The original building was built in the 1910s to house the New York National Guard’s Eighth Coast Defense Command and later the 258th Field Artillery Regiment after November 1921.

Ideally, the architects foresee a building that has five levels above ground and two below. That would include the existing roof structure, which would be fitted with solar power panels, operable windows and rainwater collection piping. There would also be vertical farming towers, an elevated greenscape, the redevolpment of the exisiting drill hall into recreational and common areas and an area known as the head house that would include cultural development spaces, an observatory and local commerce space.

The cellars would be used for rain collection, urban farming, a distribution center and parking.

Students from CUNY’s Bernard & Anne Spitzer School of Architecture built the models to reflect the four potential industries that would take root in the new armory: film and TV, sustainable manufacturing, emerging technologies and urban agriculture. The building itself will have seven levels, including the roof and two cellar levels.

Those students include Rustam Domullojonov, Florjan Plepi and Mateo Penafiel (Urban Nature Center) and Shiva Abbaszadeh, Wyatt Kuebler and Kingsley Chong (Bronx Collective Ecology).

One common theme that is evident in the models is urban agriculture and the emphasis on ecology.

“Ours focused on the definition of ecology,” Abbaszadeh said. “We defined ecology not only as the ecology of animals but that of humans. We included a variety of program spaces, office spaces, arboretum spaces, tech spaces, which are all in the vision plan.

“We were figuring out an organizational system to fit all the programming within the expanse of the armory.”

The Urban Nature Center portion of the model sought to create space focused on implementing the food production industry as a social and economic change tool, Penafiel’s team wrote in its model description. That model includes what is called vertical farming that allows natural light to shine through a more transparent roof while including a rain collection system that helps with the farming.

The Bronx Collective Ecology model works with the existing armory grid and goes up five stories with blockings created that are 30 feet-by-30 feet. The vertical farming would connect all the levels of new armory.

Throughout the rest of the armory there would be retail space, film and TV studios, and technology hubs.

Penafiel described how his team from the Spitzer school came up with their rendition of the new armory model.

“We got together and we had like one common element and to include it in the armory,” he said. “You had four different designs that you propose ideas and envision ideas for the armory, which focuses on the reuse of this magnificent facility that city has. And you try to bring both benefit and income to the community.”

All the architecture students had to consider the marketplace that surrounds the current armory and include that in the new model.

“We wanted to bring that community inside the armory as well,” Abbaszadeh said.

— Gary Larkin

With their community vision plan in hand, the Together for Kingsbridge Community Working Group co-chairs are ready to officially take the next step as early as next week.

Economic Development Corp. vice president Fernando Ortiz — whose  company owns the Kingsbridge Armory property at 29 W. Kingsbridge Road — announced before an excited crowd of more than 200 union and Kingsbridge community members that an official request for proposals will go out soon for the redevelopment of the historic Kingsbridge Armory.

“In the coming weeks, we will release the famous RFP,” Ortiz told the crowd Sunday in front of the armory.

“It will be out for four months. The idea is that people will submit proposals to the EDC. Then we will have a selection committee internally that will interview the contractors.

“We will ask them if you have the money that you say you do.

“We will ask who is part of your team. And did you look at the vision plan? How are you responding to those things in the vision plan?”

Once the winning bid is revealed, then the contractor will go through what is known as uniform land use review procedure, or ULURP, to get the necessary approvals and vetting to see how feasible that bid is, Ortiz told the crowd. Once that is completed, Ortiz hopes the redevelopment can begin by 2025.

The third attempt to redevelop the nearly 113-year-old former home to the New York State National Guard’s 258th Field Artillery Regiment continues an effort that started back in 1994.

The last two attempts failed due to disagreements about fair pay for union workers and the lack of a community vision plan. One of the proposals called for building a mammoth ice skating rink, but that too failed.

This time around the community groups and the EDC have agreed on including a community vision plan that addresses such issues as the environment and sustainability, emerging technologies, urban agriculture and film and television.

But more importantly, community organizers want the project to prioritize youth, welcome older adults, grow a regenerative local economy, maximize community ownership and foster intergenerational relationships.

Councilwoman Pierina Sanchez and Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition chair Sandra Lobo have led the Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment’s community vision plan effort.

“One of my first rallies was in 1994 when northwest Bronx was starting to have this conversation,” Lobo said. “I think what’s important this time is we were very proud about negotiating the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) last time.

“But ultimately the vision inside was not what the community was looking for (the ice rink). It was unfortunate that the EDC terminated the agreement.”

Lobo was glad the community can now resurrect a plan for the armory after 30 years of failure.

“It allowed us to revisit the original set of principles and values,” Lobo said about the latest proposal. “Today is about a celebration that the vision and the values and the principles that we have fought for over the last nine months are actually in the vision document.”

Sanchez spoke to the crowd during Sunday’s celebration after a moment of silence for 1-year-old Nicholas Dominici who died of a fentanyl overdose at a childcare center last week.

“We want to see here a project that will bring good-paying union jobs to the community,” she said. “That will bring intergenerational investment into our community.

“In no uncertain terms as a community that we want to say to the world, listen to what we want here. Listen to what our demands are.”

A rally of more than 200 community activists representing some 12 local unions and Lobo’s organization took to the streets outside the armory building to echo the sentiments of Sanchez and Lobo.

“It’s our armory and we want to make sure that whatever resources are used are put back into our community,” said Juan Nunez, one of the head organizers. “If you agree, make some noise.

“We’ve been left behind far too long. But as they’ve said the Bronx is not burning any more. We are the fire. We want to make sure our whole community benefits from what is going to be put in there.”