After a false start last year, New Rochelle city officials have turned to an architects”™ trade publication and a juried competition to settle the future use of the city”™s armory property at Echo Bay.
The 3-acre site on East Main Street adjoins the approximately 5-acre waterfront property where Cleveland-based Forest City Residential Inc. is seeking city approval of an estimated $90 million mixed-use development of 285 apartments and 25,000 square feet of retail space on Echo Bay. The proposed development has been opposed or criticized by many New Rochelle residents at public hearings this year on the project”™s environmental impact.
Forest City”™s initial development proposal in 2008 included the site of the long-vacant armory, which the developer planned to raze and replace with a 20,000-square-foot community center. Area military veterans though, strongly opposed the demolition of the 36,575-square-foot armory and have continued to press city officials to preserve the historic building since Forest City returned with greatly scaled-down plans for its development on Long Island Sound.
The New Rochelle City Council last year issued a request for proposals to separately redevelop the armory site. Two local veterans groups jointly submitted a plan to convert the armory into a performing arts center and a community center for veterans. They protested when city officials instead last September chose a proposal by a nonprofit organization in Bedford, Good Profit, to turn the armory into a regional food market and food-business incubator.
The city”™s partnership with the prospective armory developer ended after less than six months, when Good Profit in March failed to submit a required $50,000 fee and a signed letter of agreement.
Good Profit was not among the 28 applicants that submitted design proposals this summer in the first phase of the city”™s Waterfront Gateway design competition, said New Rochelle Development Commissioner Luiz Aragon. The City Council this year hired The Architect”™s Newspaper in Manhattan to run the competition. Design submissions are being reviewed and the winning designer-developer team will be chosen by an eight-member jury of architects, public officials, urban planners, developers and a military veterans representative.
“We are really keeping the entries confidential at this point just to preserve the integrity of the competition,” Aragon said. The commissioner said most entries were from architects in New York state, though the city also received design proposals from Japan, South Korea and Argentina.
“I think there are some designs that are very creative and very exciting,” Aragon said.
Reviewing entries whose applicants and architects were not identified to the jury, judges chose designs for the next competitive round that incorporated six basic principles. They are:
Ӣ Encourage redevelopment of the unique property and highlight its distinctive waterfront features and the structural elements of its significant buildings.
Ӣ Activate a currently underutilized site for the benefit of the publicӪs enjoyment.
Ӣ Complement and enhance the ongoing revitalization of the New Rochelle shoreline.
Ӣ Honor the siteӪs heritage.
Ӣ Exhibit architectural excellence.
Ӣ Provide development feasibility.
Veterans again submitted their group”™s proposal to redevelop the 82-year-old armory as a performing arts space and community center. Though it was not among the 12 designs selected for the second round, the veterans proposal recently was added to those after one chosen design team dropped out of the competition, Aragon said.
“The beginning of the competition was design-focused,” Aragon said. “We were looking for creative ideas, creative designs.” In the second round, competitors must secure a developer for their project and adapt the design to development realities for presentation to the jury this fall.
“We”™re going to be looking at pro formas and financials of the developers,” Aragon said.
The development partners will make private presentations to the jury Oct. 4.
Four semifinalists will be selected for the final round. Each will receive a $5,000 stipend to hone their designs for a final presentation to the jury. Their designs will be exhibited at City Hall for public viewing and comment from Oct. 15 to Nov. 15, Aragon said.
The jury expects to recommend a designer-developer team for the Waterfront Gateway project at the City Council”™s December meeting.
