PUBLISHED BY MOSHOLU PRESERVATION CORPORATION

Armory Developer Decision Delayed

By ALEX KRATZ

The city’s Economic Development Corporation will not choose a developer for the vacant Kingsbridge Armory until at least October, said Community Board 7 Chair Greg Faulkner.

July was the original target date for selecting a developer.

But the delay is not necessarily a bad thing, said Faulkner, who sits on the advisory Kingsbridge Armory Task Force, in an interview last week. Ostensibly, it means the developers – Atlantic Development Group, the Related Companies and Rosenshein Associates (though the last was all but eliminated by the city during the review period) – are actually taking into account community input, he said.

Last month, the Board and the Kingsbridge Area Redevelopment Alliance (KARA), an organization of community groups and activists focused on the Armory project, sent separate recommendations to the Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which is managing the project for the city.

The Board asked the developers to include space for new CB7 offices. They also wanted to see more community space in general, as well as a large grocery store and a plan for attracting competitive-wage jobs.

Jobs were priority number one for KARA, which has said from the beginning of the process that the project should be a source of long-term living-wage jobs, defined by the city now as at least $10 an hour.

Faulkner said the EDC is planning to show revisions to the Task Force and also bring revamped proposals to the Community Board for further review.

The EDC would only confirm that a developer would be chosen “sometime this fall.”

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