Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday pledged $200 million to breath life into the long-empty Kingsbridge Armory in The Bronx — although they don’t even know what’s going there yet.
Virtually every detail — other than the size of check from the city and state treasuries — has yet to be worked out.
The formal request for plans won’t even be released until September, and the proposals from developers will be due back by December.
If all goes according to the very tentative schedule, a groundbreaking could happen by 2027, officials said.
But neither Hochul nor Adams let any of that get in the way of festivities inside of the massive facility.
“This is how we make up for last time, give people hope again,” Hochul said.
Adams said, “This is about turning this city around.
“Kingsbridge Armory has been attempted two times,” he added. “And now we’re going to get it done and we’re going to do it right.”
A leaflet distributed by officials said initial meetings to get feedback from those who live near the site came up with a range of potential ideas, from space for film and television studios to urban farming.
There were also requests that space be made available for neighborhood groups and recreation.
Both Hochul and Adams said the current decrepit conditions at the facility and “environmental” issues meant the site would not be fit to host migrants, even with the space crunch in the Big Apple’s shelter system.
“There are very serious environmental issues that have to be overcome with great expense and time,” the governor told reporters.
All of the past plans to redo the armory have stalled out over questions about finances or political infighting.
Then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg once pitched a shopping mall, though the effort was ultimately defeated by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz and his allies in labor unions in a fight over wages.
A subsequent $275 million plan to transform the site into an skating rink also ended up on ice.
More recently, the facility was used as a logistics hub and distribution point for the city’s emergency food program during the coronavirus pandemic.