Queens’ Lost Battalion Hall Reopens After 4 Year Renovation

QUEENS, NY — Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura announced the reopening of Lost Battalion Hall Recreation Center in Rego Park following a $25.9 million reconstruction that modernized the historic neighborhood facility and improved accessibility.

The renovation included a redesigned entrance and lobby, refurbished fitness spaces, new exercise equipment, upgraded restrooms, a freshly painted basketball court and improved lockers and storage areas.

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Every New Yorker should feel proud of their public spaces. 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," said Mamdani said. "With new equipment, accessibility improvements and safety upgrades, Lost Battalion Hall will be even more welcoming to New Yorkers. Whether you're here to shoot hoops, work out or hang out, this is your recreation center."

Accessibility improvements include wheelchair-accessible restrooms on every floor, wider routes throughout the building, rebuilt staircases and a new staircase on the east side.

The project also upgraded the center's infrastructure with a new fire alarm and sprinkler system, rooftop generator, water line, water heaters and heating and cooling system.

Lost Battalion Hall has a longstanding connection to Queens basketball. The New York Knicks used the center as an auxiliary practice facility in the 1960s, and it helped nurture local talent, including former NBA player and Queens native Kenny "The Jet" Smith.

The building also houses one of the last surviving Works Progress Administration murals on NYC Parks property, commemorating its origins as a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall.

The center takes its name from the famous "Lost Battalion" of World War I: more than 500 soldiers from the U.S. Army's 77th Division, many of them New Yorkers, who were cut off and surrounded by German forces in France's Argonne Forest in October 1918. The soldiers held their position for nearly a week until reinforcements arrived, and their courage became one of the most enduring stories of the war.

"For years, Lost Battalion Hall has been the place where Queens families come to work out, shoot hoops and spend time with their neighbors, and we couldn't be happier to welcome everyone back," Shimamura said.