Council nears decision on armory proposals
The New Rochelle City Council is moving closer to a decision on the future of the defunct naval armory on East Main Street, with one official suggesting the council could make a determination on the two proposals by the end of October.
The armory site, which has been largely unused since being bought by the city in 1997 for $1, was previously thought to be part of an agreement between the city and developer Forest City Residential Group, a division of Forest City Enterprises Inc. in Cleveland, under which the company proposed to build 700 residential units and 100,000 square feet of retail space on 20 acres overlooking Echo Bay.
However, that proposal was scaled back by Forest City in May due to economic conditions, at which point the City Council issued a request for proposals for the adaptive reuse of the 36,575-square-foot armory.
Officials are deciding between a $26 million proposal to turn the armory into an indoor open market with restaurants and food vendors and a $10.5 million plan to transform the complex into a performing arts center and community center for veterans.
Representatives of the group Good Profit, which is responsible for the first proposal, and of the Save Our Armory Committee and the United Veterans Memorial and Patriotic Association, which together are behind the Veterans Memorial Center for the Performing Arts proposal, presented their respective plans to the City Council Aug. 24.
The council was scheduled to discuss the matter in a public forum at its Sept. 19 meeting and could decide on which proposal to move forward with by the end of next month, said New Rochelle Commissioner of Development Michael W. Freimuth.
“The goal is to get a decision or a recommendation by the end of October,” Freimuth said.
He said that upon making a decision, the council would likely enter into a memorandum of understanding with the chosen party, which would give both the city and the developer a set time frame to refine the proposal and to secure funding commitments.
Freimuth said the council”™s decision will likely hinge on the feasibility of each group”™s plan to finance capital improvements to the site and continuing operations after the armory is reopened.
“The fundamentals of their market pro formas are different, and that along with the ability to raise the cash needed to renovate the building are frankly the two most critical questions confronting the council,” he said.
Both proposals include facilities for larger events, for restaurant services and for veterans”™ services, but the similarities end there.
Ronald Tocci, a former state assemblyman and one of the leaders behind the Veterans Memorial Center proposal, said the two groups collaborating on the proposal have been trying for 15 years to find a permanent use for the armory.
“I feel good and I feel very, very proud that the people have stuck with it, have gotten us to this point,” Tocci said, adding that the building “would not be standing right now” if not for their combined efforts. “So now it”™s a question of selling it to a majority of the council.”
The Veterans Memorial Center proposal calls for the armory to be renovated into a theater and performing arts complex, with a 6,000-square-foot restaurant and a 150-space underground parking garage.
Also included would be a space for a veterans”™ community center and for a veterans”™ memorial.
The project, estimated at $10.55 million, would be financed through donations from individuals and organizations, according to the proposal.
The group estimates annual revenues, which would be generated from theater productions and concerts, a restaurant, and from an open market and exhibit space, would range from $675,000 to $3.25 million.
Tocci said a performing arts center would fill a void in southern Westchester, adding that it would “hopefully act as a catalyst to spur other kinds of economic activity in the area.”
The Veterans Memorial Center proposal estimates the project would create 135 full- and part-time jobs once operational.
The Good Profit proposal includes space for multiple restaurants, a market hall for food vendors, a food distribution space that could serve as a farmers market, space for a bike-sharing program, an exhibition hall for events, and a space for a veterans”™ community center, in addition to a parking venue.
The $26 million proposal would be financed through a series of donations and investments, Good Profit founder Michael Blakeney said.
Blakeney said Good Profit is backed financially by the Open Space Institute, based in New York City.
The Good Profit proposal calls for a “hybrid” model, by which some functions of the site would be managed by a for-profit entity and others would be run by a nonprofit entity.
“We”™re looking to be ”“ especially in these economic times ”“ as innovative with the way we make something happen in terms of financing as we can,” said Blakeney, a Bedford resident, who founded Good Profit in 2011.
The proposal estimates annual revenues of $1.6 million, derived primarily from rent paid by restaurant tenants and food vendors, and projects the facility would employ roughly 300 full- and part-time workers.
[Editor’s note: The article incorrectly identified the principal behind a proposal to construct a retail and residential development surrounding New Rochelle’s Echo Bay as Forest City Ratner Cos. The principal behind the proposal is Forest City Residential Group, a division of Forest City Enterprises Inc. in Cleveland.]