This article is the first in a two-part series.

This year marks the Cranston Street Armory’s eleventh listing on the Most Endangered Places list. Residents of the West End have been organizing around the redevelopment of the castle-like building for decades, and each proposal thus far has been met with defeat.

This cycle of renewed excitement and eventual defeat has begun to wear on community members who have dedicated decades of their life to saving it. Given this context, the redevelopment of the Cranston Street Armory can be painful for the community to envision once again.

Successful redevelopment projects serve as excellent reminders that this kind of project is possible. Below we’ve collected some of the most exciting armory redevelopment efforts currently underway across the country in order to build support for a successful redevelopment plan in 2025.

1. Lynn Armory: Lynn, Mass.

The Lynn Armory is the oldest armory on this list, dating prior to the turn of the 20th century. In partnership with the Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development (LHAND), the non-profit housing corporation Neighborhood Development Associates (NDA) acquired the Lynn Armory in 2019 via a legislative transfer. The building had been owned by the state before NDA and LHAND acquired it. 

After the National Guard left the building in 1980, it was occupied by the Department of Motor Vehicles for several decades, though it eventually became vacant. According to the Boston Globe, when the building was transferred to NDA and LHAND, it was “plagued by such defects as a leaky roof, buckling floors, a crumbling foundation, and assumed environmental contaminants.” 

NDA and LHAND plan to transform the armory into 51 affordable apartments for veterans. The 2023 Point in Time count of homelessness in the U.S. estimated 550 veterans in Massachusetts were homeless, demonstrating a need for more population-specific housing opportunities. They have already selected a general contractor, and received several millions of dollars in funding from both the state and federal governments, including state historic tax credits and low income housing tax credits.

2. Pikesville Armory Complex: Baltimore, Md.

The redevelopment of the Pikesville Armory Complex started back in 2017 with an extensive community input survey that included about 1,500 neighborhood participants and more than 50 neighborhood meetings. The survey found the community desired a lively neighborhood hub that people of any age could take advantage of. With 14 acres of space and several buildings  to work with, the state of Maryland transferred the property to the non-profit Pikesville Armory Foundation (PAF) for $1. 

The first phase of their three-phase plan involves restoring the Non-Commissioned Officers Club building so it can continue to serve veterans’ needs. PAF broke ground in January of 2024, and restoration of the NCO building is almost complete. In spring of 2025, they intend to reopen the structure as the PAF headquarters, and it will continue to serve as a free meeting space for veterans’ activities. According to their plans, the main armory building is next. Restoration and renovation of that building will bring indoor athletic courts, cafes, and the largest senior center in Baltimore County. The third floor will be transformed into a performance space with rooftop access. Groundbreaking is scheduled for early 2026. Lastly, the PAF plans to raze some historic garages and old parking lots to create a playground and walking trails totalling more than an acre of ADA-accessible greenspace. It will have outdoor athletic fields — which were requested by the community — as well as gardens, and even a splash-pad in the summertime.

The entire project is projected to cost roughly $100 million dollars, with funding from a variety of sources. Baltimore County recently pledged to contribute $9.5 million over the next several years to the planning and development of the outdoor recreational areas — that amount is in addition to an earlier pledge of $6 million. PAF also received $15 million in Catalytic Revitalization tax credits from the state of Maryland, and they expect to receive another $20 million in historic tax credits by the time construction begins on the main armory building. Other funding sources include the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Baltimore Regional Neighborhood Initiative, and a variety of foundations, individuals, and corporate donors. As of January 2025, they had raised $32 million towards their goal, and they expect the entire project to be completed by 2028. Once completed, PAF has promised to have more than 500 people on-site at any given time. As the project is ongoing, they’ve continued to hold neighborhood workshops — including one as recently as January of 2025 — and started community programming on the site. During the summer of 2024, they held an outdoor jazz music festival for the community.

3. Kingsbridge Armory: Bronx, New York

The Kingsbridge Armory has been a property of particular focus here at the Providence Preservation Society for the last couple of months. The over 500,000-square-foot structure is thought to be one of the largest armories in the world, if not the largest. For reference, the entire footprint of the Cranston Street Armory would fit inside Kingsbridge’s drill hall. Kingsbridge has been vacant for just as long as the Cranston Street Armory, and was in much worse physical condition when New York City decided to reinvest in the property in 2022. 

Bronx community members have been organizing around armory redevelopment for years. Back in 2009, with the leadership of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC), the community defeated an unpopular proposal to turn the Kingsbridge Armory into a big-box mall. A development like that, they said, would perpetuate minimum-wage jobs in the community, sending all the building’s profits to out-of-neighborhood corporations. 

In 2022, the City of New York began to work with community members to design a solution that would actually benefit the surrounding neighborhood. That process began with Together for Kingsbridge, a community engagement project that reached over 4,000 people and produced 13 hours of public workshops to determine how nearby residents wanted to see the site transformed.

When the City put out a request for proposals in 2023, the NWBCCC, which had been instrumental in engaging the community, decided to submit their own proposal. The organization based their proposal on four pillars: union jobs, community ownership, anti-displacement, and environmental and economic sustainability. According to The New York Times, it was integral to NWBCCC’s proposal that tens of thousands of square feet be reserved for light industry, which would create long-term, high-paying jobs for people in the community. Additional features the organization outlined included recreational space for youth sports, a community food hall, a large concert venue space in the drill hall, and approximately 200 affordable housing units to be added during the second phase of their proposed project. NWBCCC’s proposal was ultimately not selected, but it does give us some inspiration as we  reimagine the possibilities for our own Armory. 

New York City officials have not yet shared details about the chosen proposal, El Centro Kingsbridge, including how much the entire project is projected to cost. So far, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York State Governor Kathy Hochul have pledged $200 million, with some additional funding from a federal Housing and Urban Development grant, and around $14 million from local Bronx leaders. 

Stay tuned for Part Two.

By Keating Zelenke / Special Projects Fellow / kzelenke@ppsri.org