Lost Battalion Hall reopened on Friday, October 9, 2026, after a $25.9 million reconstruction that had kept the building at 93-29 Queens Blvd. closed since 2022. The adult membership quoted at the reopening was $150, but the adult plan that covers this building is $100 a year. Anyone under 25 joins free, and seniors pay $25. The building is open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays. The first schedule packs those hours with programs built for the cold half of the year, starting with the season it opened into.

The plan that covers this building costs $100

NYC Parks sells adult memberships in two tiers. The $150 tier opens every recreation center in the city, including the ones with indoor pools. The $100 tier opens "any center without an indoor pool." The Parks facility inventory for Lost Battalion Hall lists no pool. It lists one indoor basketball court, a gymnasium, two indoor volleyball courts, two fitness rooms, a cycling studio, a media lab and four multipurpose rooms. If this building is the only one you plan to use, the cheaper tier gets you in.

Those rates come from the NYC Parks membership page. Adults 25 through 61 who show an IDNYC card at sign-up get 10 percent off, which brings the $100 plan to $90. Instructor-led courses such as yoga or martial arts can carry separate session fees.

QNS reported that children of members can use the center free up to age 24. The Parks page goes further. It lists free memberships for everyone under 25, whether or not a parent is a member. In a household with two working adults and two teenagers, the whole family's access to this building costs $200 a year.

The hours are built around the workday

The schedule for the week of October 12 shows the building open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday. It is closed Sunday.

That first week's weekday schedule falls into four bands:

• 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Adult Open Basketball runs Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and Adult Open Table Tennis runs Wednesday. On Monday and Friday the gym splits so both run side by side. Both are for members 18 and up.
• 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The gym switches to Adult Open Pickleball on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and to Adult Open Badminton on Tuesday and Thursday.
• 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. After School Youth Recreation for ages 6 to 12 meets in Classroom A, with sports, board games and group games.
• 5 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. Teen Open Badminton, Volleyball and Basketball for ages 13 to 17 take the gym first. Adult pickleball, table tennis or basketball follows later in the evening.

The Strength Training Room is open for members 16 and up from 6 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. every weekday under the Open Access Fitness listing. The schedule says to bring a lock. Open play in the gym requires a membership. The classes have their own listings. Rhythm Ride indoor cycling meets in the Spin Room. Powerhouse Fitness, a bodyweight class, meets in the basement multi-use room. NYC Parks Chair Aerobics, rated beginner and low intensity, runs Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. and Thursday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. A Collage Workshop with supplies provided meets Friday from 10 a.m. to noon. The Parks events page labels several of these classes free. Whether a class needs a membership card is worth confirming at the front desk.

This is one week's schedule from the opening weeks. Parks posts each new week on the Lost Battalion Hall schedule page, and times can shift.

Saturday is the family and teen day

Saturday runs on a different pattern. Youth Sports Club opens the gym at 9 a.m. with weekly clinics focused on a different sport each week. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. comes Family Time, open gym for members of all ages, with basketball and badminton alongside board games like chess and Connect 4. Rhythm Ride classes run at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

From 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., the gym belongs to Saturday Night Lights. It is a citywide partnership among NYC Parks, NYPD, DYCD, DOE and the five district attorney's offices that keeps recreation centers open late for members ages 12 to 19. At Lost Battalion Hall the sport rotates each week:

1. October 17: basketball
2. October 24: volleyball
3. October 31: badminton
4. November 7: basketball

A parent or guardian has to be there in person to register anyone under 16, and locks are required. Friday evenings also have a Family Open Badminton slot from 7 p.m. to 8:45 p.m., which invites parents to bring their children.

The rebuild was aimed at year-round use

The schedule leans indoors and toward the dark months, and officials said so at the opening. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the center reopened just in time for New Yorkers to use it during the colder winter months, according to QNS. "Whether you're here to shoot hoops, work out or hang out, this is your recreation center," he said in a statement. In her own statement, quoted by QNS, Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura said the building is now "safer, easier to get around and more comfortable no matter the season."

The work backs that up. QNS reported a new heating and cooling system, new water heaters, a new waterline, a rooftop generator, and a new fire alarm and sprinkler system. Accessible bathrooms were added on every floor. The entrance has new doors and a new lobby, the existing staircases were rebuilt, and a second staircase was added on the east side of the building. The weightlifting area, spin room and fitness room were refurbished with new equipment, and lockers and storage were upgraded. A Parks spokesperson told the Forest Hills Times that the building is now fully accessible under ADA standards and that deteriorated stormwater systems inside and out were replaced. The historic WPA murals stayed covered and protected through construction. The firm 1100 Architect designed the project and D & S Restoration, Inc. built it.

Why the doors stayed shut after construction ended

Anyone who walked past the fencing on Queens Boulevard knows the closure ran long. The Forest Hills Times reported in August that "When is Lost Battalion Hall Recreation Center reopening?" was among the ten questions Rego Park and nearby residents asked most. The NYC Parks capital project tracker shows how long the whole project took:

Every phase ran past its target, and construction finished two and a half years later than projected. The doors opened about three months after construction ended, and the tracker explains why. After the Department of Buildings signs off on a finished project, the Parks Public Programs team still has to set the building up for public use. From the start of design to the ribbon-cutting, the project took just over nine years.

Council Member James Gennaro called the reopening "a long time coming" in remarks reported by QNS. He also noted that the building has been a Queens staple for 87 years.

The building behind the name

The Works Progress Administration put up the Art Moderne building in 1938 and 1939 for $100,000, the Forest Hills Times reported. The name honors the U.S. Army's 77th Division and its stand during the Battle of Argonne in World War I, in which more than half of the division's 550 soldiers died. The building first served veterans' groups such as the Queens Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, and it had a firing range and a drill hall. Parks took it over in 1960. During that decade the New York Knicks used it as an auxiliary practice site, and the gym later helped develop former NBA player Kenny "the Jet" Smith.

Today the same drill-hall footprint hosts 6 a.m. pickup basketball, chair aerobics and teen badminton nights. The media lab is open to members of all ages during building hours for projects, research, email and recreation, with registration through the Parks program system.

The next few weekends on and around Queens Boulevard

The reopening lands in a busy stretch of the local calendar. The Forest Hills Autumn Fair takes over 71st Avenue/Continental Avenue between Queens Boulevard and Austin Street on Sunday, October 18. That is a day the rec center is closed. Saturday Night Lights badminton falls on October 31. The next morning, Sunday, November 1, the 63rd Dr "Rego Park" Festival fills 63rd Drive between Queens Boulevard and Austin Street, according to the Clearview street fair schedule. Sign-up is at the front desk at 93-29 Queens Blvd. during building hours, Monday through Saturday.

If you're wondering how a rebuilt rec center down the block figures into what buyers look for near your home, Alan Mann is glad to talk through it with you over a call or a coffee on Queens Boulevard.