The city last Friday announced the reopening of Rego Park\u2019s Lost Battalion Hall Recreation Center, after four long years and a $25.9 million reconstruction project.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery New Yorker should feel proud of their public spaces,\u201d Mayor Mamdani said in a City Hall press release. \u201cToday, we\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019 jurisdiction in 1960 and later became a recreation center.<\/p>\n
A WPA mural honoring the building\u2019s history is still there, and it is one of the last surviving such works on Parks property, the City Hall release says. The center\u2019s name is a nod to the U.S. Army\u2019s 77th Division, the \u201clost battalion\u201d of World War I.<\/p>\n
The New York Knicks also have used the center as an auxiliary practice facility, according to the release. Former NBA player Kenny \u201cThe Jet\u201d Smith honed his skills there.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnsuring 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,\u201d Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city last Friday announced the reopening of Rego Park\u2019s Lost Battalion Hall Recreation Center, after four long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[41068,93613,137716,9,24,63,10649,122,10773,124,123,2612,82],"class_list":["post-374208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-donovan-richards-jr","tag-jim-gennaro","tag-lost-battalion-hall-recreation-center","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-parks","tag-queens","tag-queens-boulevard","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-rego-park","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}