Second time’s the charm?
The city Economic Development Corporation has selected 8th Regiment Partners LLC, a joint venture between real estate firm Maddd Equities LLC and Joy Construction Corporation, to develop the 570,000 sq. ft. Kingsbridge Armory, the public-benefit corporation told THE CITY on Monday.
Dubbed “El Centro Kingsbridge,” the repurposed century-old armory will include a state-of-the-art event venue, a dedicated community space, a recreation center, an educational facility focused on workforce development, cultural and commercial spaces, sports fields and more.
The selection of the developer in a bidding process that launched last September marks a major turning point for a national landmark that has been vacant since the city took over the property in 1996. A previous attempt to turn it into a national ice center collapsed after years of legal battles.
The new development partnership comes as the borough is in the midst of a development boom, including a recent rezoning that potentially allows for 7,000 apartments near four new Metro North train stations in the East Bronx and waterfront projects along the Bronx and Harlem Rivers in Mott Haven, Soundview and University Heights that have sparked concerns about the possibility of displacement of longtime residents and small business owners.
“After a competitive selection process, we are thrilled to announce 8th Regiment Partners as our partner to redevelop the historic Kingsbridge Armory,” EDC president and chief executive officer Andrew Kimball told THE CITY in a written statement, adding that the group’s “proposal embraced the community’s vision plan for the Armory and demonstrated through their thoughtful design, programmatic uses, and financial viability that, in partnership with the city and state, they can finally deliver the economic engine and community amenities that the Bronx wants and deserves.”
An EDC spokesperson said construction is anticipated to begin in 2027 with a goal to complete it by 2032, and that its event space would hold 13,000 people at events including concerts and college graduations.
Construction Fatalities
Joy Construction and Maddd Equities are bound by a project-labor agreement that Mayor Eric Adams announced with the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York late last year. It ensures union labor is guaranteed on this and other major city construction projects.
“We know we can’t get things done in this city without unions,” Adams said at the Nov. 21 announcement. “The Building and Construction Trade Council and the rest of our brothers and sisters in organized labor keep New York strong.”
Joy Construction, however, has been repeatedly targeted by Laborers Local 79 over the firm’s use of non-union labor and for what the union says is its poor safety record.
In December 2022, one worker was killed and another hospitalized with an amputation when the bucket of an excavator struck them both at a Joy Construction job site. Lindon Samuel, who was killed in the impact, and the other worker were building a state-funded affordable housing complex in Tremont. Federal investigators probed that incident and Joy Construction ultimately paid a $10,550 fine, records from the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration show.
Last February, Local 79 and several local elected officials led calls for Joy Construction’s removal from the Edgemere Commons project in Far Rockaway after two workers were injured in back-to-back incidents.
Local 79 did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the Kingsbridge Armory deal.
Maddd Equities is headed by Jorge Madruga, a Bronx businessman who, with a previous venture, developed 20 Bruckner Boulevard in the South Bronx. Three workers died at that job site between 2018 and 2021, making it the city’s deadliest project since at least 2003, according to a New York Times investigation.
Neither firm responded to THE CITY’s request for comment.
More than $200M in Public Funds
The EDC estimated in June 2023 that redeveloping of the armory would cost up to $500 million, with much of that going towards remediation. Built in 1917 for the National Guard, the building has critical infrastructure needs that include addressing plumbing, HVAC, electrical and flooding issues.
Approximately $216 million in city and state funding awaits Joy Construction and Maddd Equities, including $100 million each from Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul, with the rest coming from the City Council and Borough President Vanessa Gibson. That money from the mayor and governor, previously available as loans, carried over from the plan to establish an ice center.
The EDC and community groups consulted with some 4,000 residents, students, workers and business owners on the project concept, published as the Together for Kingsbridge Vision Plan in August 2023. It proposed the armory be used as a community-owned space for, among other possibilities, film and television productions, sustainable manufacturing, vocational training and a small business incubator along with spaces for community gatherings, sustainable food systems and a museum on the culture and history of The Bronx.
The Northwest Bronx Clergy and Community Coalition (NWBCCC), a local group advocating for racial justice and economic democracy that has led community-driven development proposals for the armory since 1997, led much of the grassroots engagement.
“We are convening a coalition of accountability that’s made up of faith institutions, community organizations, labor unions and small businesses that are going to continually monitor and advocate for what was in the vision document,” NWBCCC executive director Sandra Lobo told THE CITY Monday evening.
She emphasized the need for quality union employment, high environmental standards, some form of community ownership and averting displacement.
“There’s very little information that we have” about how the community space in the development will actually be used, said Lobo. “We’re cautiously optimistic that the EDC has chosen a developer that has taken the vision document seriously, and that wants to uphold those standards.”
