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Kingsbridge Armory project skates past obstacle


The developer of the planned $350 million ice-sports center, billed as the largest in the world, has finally signed a lease with the city.

The developer planning to convert the Kingsbridge Armory into the world's largest ice-sports center announced Thursday it had at last signed a lease for the long-derelict Bronx property. The milestone comes after months of uncertainty spawned by legal disputes over who was in charge.

With the ink now drying on the 99-year lease, Kingsbridge National Ice Center (KNIC), led by founder Kevin Parker and National Hockey League Hall-of-Famer Mark Messier, can begin the process of building out the cavernous 750,000-square-foot building that is set to house nine ice skating rinks and arena-style seating, and that will eventually be home to more than 250 permanent jobs.

"This project will not just build the world's largest indoor ice center, but create a new economic engine for the borough," Kyle Kimball, president of the city's Economic Development Corp., said in a statement. EDC signed the lease with the developers.

Up until Thursday's announcement, an air of uncertainty had descended over the ambitious project, which was financed with hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment, according to city officials. It began early this year, when three men involved in the development—Jonathan Richter, Marcus Wignell and Jeff Spiritos—sued Mr. Parker in state Supreme Court to gain control of KNIC Partners. In early October, a Bronx justice ruled against the group, a victory that Mr. Parker's lawyers said cleared the way for the project to go forward.

A number of separate lawsuits remain unresolved, however. Those include a legal salvo over compensation filed by the trio over work they claim they performed but were not paid for leading up to the project's approval last December. EDC, which initially bid out the project, has long maintained that the legal disputes have had no significant effect on the timeline.

Thursday's good news comes less than three months after the developers announced a $30 million round of equity investment from a group of investors led by the Michigan-based Kresge Foundation. Deep in the weeds of that update, the developers also revealed that the project's price tag had risen by more than twice the equity sum. Initial estimates pegged the total cost at $275 million; the revised figure is $75 million more.

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OCTOBER 16, 2014
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...-past-obstacle