5. Kingsbridge Armory
The Kingsbridge Armory on Kingsbridge Road in The Bronx has been vacant since 1995. The 575,000 square foot building, once used to house the National Guard’s Eighth Coastal Artillery Regiment, has not been used for military purposes in more than 20 years. It has, however, been used for several other purposes, including the filming of the 2006 Will Smith film, I Am Legend.
In 2013, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Economic Development Corp. unveiled an initiative to transform the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx into the world’s largest indoor ice facility. The new building, to be called the Kingsbridge National Ice Center (KNIC), will include 9 regulation ice rinks spread across multiple floors of the building. In recent years, the $275 million project has faced difficulty getting financed. However, two abbexed buildings on the property have received funding from New York State to undergo upgrades, becoming functional armories.