New York City Mayor Mamdani and the Parks Commissioner announced on Friday, October, 9, 2026, the Lost Battalion Center in Rego Park has been reopened. A ribbon cutting ceremony made it official for the community.
We asked center manager Angela Eli to tell us a little about the reopening. “Well, it’s four years in the making. We closed for renovations in June of 2022. So the community and myself have been waiting for this center to reopen, and we’ve gotten a lot of foot traffic. We did a lot of tours of the building today. We did some memberships. People are happy to have us back. And it’s great to see some of my older members that were here when we started the renovation.”
We said that we understood that some of the renovations might have been to accommodate those who are disabled, handicapped, or elderly and asked her to talk about the renovation. “A big part of the renovation was to have egress in case of an emergency. The building does have an elevator, but now we have an entrance/exit, but if you’re on the lower level, you can’t actually get out of the building in case of an emergency. So it’s going to be better and we are able to accommodate any type of emergency.” The Lost Battalion Center is a membership organization, run by the Parks Department, and receives additional funding from the City Council. “I’ve been here since September 2011.”
She told us that membership fees are based on age. “We’re going to start with seniors, seniors are $25 for the year. Anyone from birth to age 25, they’re free. And that membership wasn’t always in place, but the agency introduced that a couple of years ago. Anyone from 25 to 61 before they were seniors is $50 for 6 months or $100 for the year. Heads up. And anyone with a disability or our veterans, $25 for a year.
We asked her what activities the center provides?
She replied, “In our gymnasium, we have table tennis, pickleball, basketball, badminton, soccer seasonally. We have an after school program where we do floor hockey and there, we do flat football in there. Oh, it’s a whole host of things. And there is no pool.”
She said that her members can go to the aquatic center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park to swim.
“The community’s been waiting a long time for us to reopen, and, you know, I can’t even go outside to walk to my car without someone stopping me. ‘When are you opening? When are you opening?’ So it was a pleasure starting last week to tell them we have a date to reopen.”
Queens Gazette readers can call the center to find out about programs and information about dates that they can come in for a visit. Is there a number to call? The number to call is 718-520-5310. She added, “all our schedules are posted online, day by day.” Anyone interested can go to the New York City Parks and Recreation website.
The Lost Battalion Center is named after our troops that were over in Germany during WWI.
The Lost Battalion Center in Rego Park has been reopened as of Friday, October 9. Center manager Angela Eli talked to us about the reopening.
Photo Courtesy of Dan Miller/DMD Images 2026