ARMORY EYED AS REC CENTER

A nonprofit group headed by Giants co-owner Robert Tisch, which specializes in developing athletic facilities around the city, is eying the long-derelict Park Slope Armory for its next project.

Take the Field, which already has refurbished 18 sports fields around the city since it was founded 18 months ago, is considering the crumbling, castlelike structure on Eighth Ave., between 14th and 15th Sts., as well as similar sites, for a makeover as a year-round community recreation center.

"This is a great opportunity because we happen to have these buildings available," said Richard Kahan, president of Take the Field and the former head of the state Urban Development Corp.

Right now the 14th Regiment Armory is only partially used - for several offices and as a homeless shelter for up to 70 women.

Building such facilities from scratch could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but renovating each armory can be done for less than $15 million, he said.

Plans call for turning the armory's century-old drill floor into an indoor track, complete with four different sports courts the size of four full-sized gyms. It would be open for use by local schools during the day and by neighborhood people in the mornings and evenings.

Take the Field has only just started meeting with community groups on the project.
And it is still working to raise the necessary funding from public and private groups for the plan.
But already, many who live in the area say the project could be a tremendous boon for the chronically underused structure.
'Wonderful idea'
"I think it's a wonderful idea," said Robert Lucas, assistant director of the Park Slope Women's Shelter, which cur-rently uses the building.
"From what I've heard, it sounds like nothing but a positive thing to me," he said. "And it would certainly be a good utilization of the space."
Take the Field also is drafting plans to overhaul three other similar structures across the city - the Bedford-Atlantic Armory in Bedford-Stuyvesant and one each in Queens and the Bronx. But officials said the Park Slope project is best poised to go first.
Kahan said his group is hoping to raise mostly public money for the project, in contrast to its field renovation pro-gram, which relies more on private money.
"We're going to try to be very aggressive about it," he said, adding that Take the Field intends to work with officials at the federal, state and city levels to fund the project.


Courtesy of the NY Daily News
May 6, 2002, Monday

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