About the Park Slope Armory YMCA

The Park Slope Armory was originally commissioned by the City of New York in 2004 for $16 million to serve as an annex for the 121-year-old Prospect Park YMCA. Four years later, the facility was complete, and the Y was named to run it and pay for upkeep and improvements. The drill floor was converted to four basketball courts with a one-eighth-mile track around it, along with seating for parents, nannies, and others beneath the immense arched ceiling.

The Park Slope Armory originally opened in 1895. The Armory, which is 140,000 square feet in size, is comprised of two distinct parts: a drill floor and a garrison, which once housed offices. From the 1980s until 2004 an area of the garrison had been used as a 7--bed dormitory for homeless women, which currently is managed by the Church Avenue Merchants Block Association (CAMBA).

Upon opening day, the Park Slope Armory YMCA became one of New York City's largest community recreation and education facilities. The transformation of this historic space into a stunning new neighborhood recreational center is a creative example of the Y's adaptive re-use of a formerly under-utilized urban facility.