City Council votes 45 to 1 against Related's plan for a mall at the Kingsbridge Armory

The City Council voted 45 to 1 today to block the redevelopment of the landmark Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx by The Related Companies.

In a statement, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said that "Today's vote against the Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment project means the loss of a rare opportunity to bring thousands of jobs and more than $300 million in private investment to The Bronx."

"Given that the national recession continues to weigh on the entire City and keep unemployment high - particularly in The Bronx - the outcome and timing couldn't be worse," he maintained.

"The community-led planning process for the project began more than three years ago," according to his statement, "when we formed a Task Force made up of the two area community boards, local civic groups, and elected officials. This Task Force ensured local community interests were incorporated into the process, and the result was a plan to transform the vacant armory into a new shopping destination, with dedicated community space, major workforce development initiatives, 1,200 permanent jobs and 1,000 construction jobs. It would have relieved the City of millions of dollars in operating, security and capital expenses to maintain the empty facility."

"Instead," the statement continued, "the Task Force, the local community board, area civic groups and, most of all, people in the Bronx who need jobs were ignored, and an unfortunate signal has been sent that the Bronx is not open for business. From early in the planning process, we made clear we would never add mandatory wage requirements which would make the project unviable, and that was a line we were never going to cross. It's not the role of the public sector. As a result of today's vote, we can say one thing for sure: there will be no wages paid at all at the Kingsbridge Armory for the foreseeable future. It's a disappointing and irrational outcome, but New Yorkers can rest assured our Administration will not waver in our efforts to encourage private sector investment and job creation in The Bronx and throughout New York City."

The opposition to the project came from Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., some community groups and labor organizations that wanted the developer to guarantee that all workers in the redeveloped project would make a minimum of $11.50 an hour.

Related has said that such a minimum wage would make funding extremely difficult and that major retailers would probably not lease space when lower wages could be had nearby.

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union applied heavy pressure on the issue, according to an article by Elliot Brown in today's observer.com, "saying no jobs were better than 'poverty jobs.'"

"This is a great day for democracy because the council has to be independent of the mayor," Councilman Tony Avella was quoted as saying by NY1 News, which noted that the very large, twin-towered armory has been vacant for more than 10 years.

It is also known as the Eighth Regiment Armory and was built between 1912 and 1917 to house the National Guard's Eighth Coastal Artillery Regiment. It fills the entire block between Kingsbridge Road and 195th Street to Reservoir and Jerome Avenues and was designated an official city landmark in 1974.

Last October, Amanda Burden, the chair of the City Planning Commission, declared that the Related proposal for the armory "represents the most significant private investment in the northwest Bronx in generations." The city spent $30 million to replace its roof and under the terms of the proposed deal Related was going to pay $5 million for the property.

Related recently opened the Gateway Mall near Yankee Stadium and an article has drawn criticism for offering low-wage jobs, hurting local businesses, and charging parking fees, according to October 19, 2009 article by Sam Dolnick in the City Room blog of nytimes.com.

The very impressive, Medieval-style building was designed by Pilcher and Tachau.