Residents of Bed-Stuy will be able to choose between three separate visions for Marcus Garvey Armory, as the Department of Buildings makes repairs to the site after a men's shelter there was shuttered in the fall of 2024.

State funding has secured a community comment period and site plan development, with more state dollars coming for when the project is selected in November.

"We have the space to let people get a little bit of everything they have wanted, arts, recreation, community service space," said state Sen. Stefani Zinerman, who has been heading the efforts to reimagine the space since 2022.

The proposals include:

"This has been a site that has served the community and the needs in the past, and will do so again," she said. "It's a place everyone in the community can come together."

She is hoping that more of the public will come out to weekly community board meetings, and attend the hearings that will allow them to weigh in on the space's future.

"We already heave an Olympic-sized swimming pool. We have a bowling alley. These are historic items that we just looking to renovated, your ideas got us to these concepts, your ideas will get us to the final project," she said.

Residents tell News 12 they are excited about the return of the recreational spaces many in the area remember using in their youth, and even expressed support for the homeless shelter returning if it was part of a suite of other options available on site.

"It's huge, and this shouldn't go to waste," said resident Sharon Shaw. "As a resident, there's never been an issue of the guys hanging around harassing residents - never."

Resident Douglas Bartwaite lives right next to the property, and says he is excited to have the space be activated to its full potential.

"I don't know if a shelter should be the whole point, but as part of a larger plan sure, because right now this takes up almost the whole block, it should be varied, multidimensional use," he said.

Residents who want to learn more about the proposed plans can visit the website and weigh in on weekly meetings hosted by the local oversight board.

The board will have the final say on which vision moves forward.

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