Lost Battalion Hall, the recreation center on Queens Boulevard in Rego Park, is open again after a $25.9 million top-to-bottom reconstruction by NYC Parks. The city announced the reopening on Oct. 9.

The building at 93-29 Queens Boulevard, between 62nd Avenue and 62nd Road, was rebuilt from its front doors to a new rooftop generator.

What is new inside

  • A redesigned entrance and lobby, with new front doors
  • Entrance stairways relocated and enclosed, existing staircases rebuilt and a new staircase on the east side
  • Accessible restrooms on every floor, with a former storage room converted to restrooms and undersized bathrooms turned into changing rooms
  • Wider routes through the building
  • A refurbished weightlifting area, spin room and fitness room, all with new equipment
  • Upgraded lockers and storage
  • A freshly painted basketball court with new equipment
  • A new fire alarm and sprinkler system, rooftop generator and water line, plus new water heaters and new heating and cooling in the lobby

A building with a long story

Lost Battalion Hall went up in 1939 with $100,000 from the Works Progress Administration. It was built as a two-story, 36,000-square-foot home for the Queens chapters of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, complete with a firing range and a drill hall. Its name honors the Lost Battalion of the 77th Division, the World War I unit that was surrounded in France's Argonne Forest in October 1918.

NYC Parks took over the building on Dec. 6, 1960, and turned it into a recreation center with a gymnasium and basketball courts. In the 1960s the New York Knicks used it as an auxiliary practice gym. The center counts former NBA player Kenny Smith among its alumni.

The building also holds one of the last surviving WPA murals on Parks property, a work that celebrates its beginnings as a VFW hall.

What members can use

NYC Parks lists an indoor basketball court, a gymnasium, a cycling studio, two fitness rooms, two indoor volleyball courts, four multipurpose rooms and a media lab. The center is fully accessible. Programs run on seasonal schedules that rotate every three months, so the October to December lineup is the current one.

Access is through a standard NYC Parks recreation center membership, which also lets members sign up for programs at centers across the city. Members can manage and renew their memberships online through NYC Parks.

Hours and getting there

The center is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Registration ends at least 30 minutes before closing. The phone number is 718-520-5310.

The M and R trains stop at 63 Drive–Rego Park, a short walk along Queens Boulevard.

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