The city last Friday announced the reopening of Rego Park’s Lost Battalion Hall Recreation Center, after four long years and a $25.9 million reconstruction project.
Upgrades to the Queens Boulevard facility, which dates back nearly a century, include a new entrance, lobby, fitness space, exercise equipment and more. The building now has accessible restrooms on the first and second floors, a freshly painted basketball court and improved safety systems, including a new fire alarm and sprinkler.
“Every New Yorker should feel proud of their public spaces,” Mayor Mamdani said in a City Hall press release. “Today, we’re reopening Lost Battalion Hall just in time for the weather to cool down and New Yorkers to head indoors to continue playing their favorite sports all winter long.”
The building was constructed in 1939 after the Works Progress Administration authorized $100,000 for a two-story facility for the Queens Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion, as per the City Hall release. It was transferred to Parks’ jurisdiction in 1960 and later became a recreation center.
A WPA mural honoring the building’s history is still there, and it is one of the last surviving such works on Parks property, the City Hall release says. The center’s name is a nod to the U.S. Army’s 77th Division, the “lost battalion” of World War I.
The New York Knicks also have used the center as an auxiliary practice facility, according to the release. Former NBA player Kenny “The Jet” Smith honed his skills there.
“Ensuring our neighbors have safe spaces that support our physical and mental wellness is a top priority of my administration, and the reimagined Lost Battalion Hall is a major component of that mission,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. said.
Area City Councilman Jim Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) said the center has been a Queens staple for 87 years, and it is now better equipped to serve the area for generations to come.