Developers have big plans for new Bronx retail mecca.

Sitting derelict for nearly the last decade, the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx is on track for a major redevelopment, but not before the Economic Development Corporation oversees a potentially yearlong request for proposal process to sort out the best plan for the fallow building an EDC spokesperson said.

That news may come as a letdown to developers, Atlantic Development and Richmond Housing Resources, who together presented a plan to convert the armory into a massive mixed-use development before members of Community Board 7 last week.

According to written reports, the developers' plans have drawn serious interest from a number of major retailers, including Lowe's home improvement, and national movie theater chain, AMC, both of whom could be anchor tenants for the proposal's planned 450,000 s/f retail component. Quoted by community newspaper, the Norwood News, Peter Fine, a principal at Atlantic Development, cautioned the community board that the preliminary leasing commitments might collapse if the armory's redevelopment is delayed by an RFP process.

"A one-and-a-half- year solicitation won't bring in anything else [that we're not already offering]," the newspaper quoted Peter Fine as saying.

Aside from the large amount of retail space and the movie theater, the plan developed by Atlantic Development and Richmond Housing Resources includes at least three public schools totaling 250,000 s/f. Community Board 7 district manager, Rita Kessler, said that the schools would likely be built on vacant land surrounding the armory because of School Construction Authority restrictions that would prohibit their placement within the armory itself.

The EDC has assembled a task force to help draft the RFP. Its members include representatives from a number of major stakeholders in the project, such as the School Construction Authority, Community Boards 7 and 8, the state assembly, the Bronx Borough President's office, and the city council. Aside from the significant amount of classroom space, a relocation facility for the National Guard--which maintains a presence within the armory--is likely to be among the essential criteria the RFP will seek from responding developers' proposals. In that respect, the joint venture between Atlantic Development and Richmond Housing Resources would have a leg up on the competition.

According to Kessler, Atlantic Development is in contract to acquire a four acre parcel of land in the South Bronx for which it has plans to construct a building for the National Guard--a relocation that has already been approved by federal authorities, Kessler said.