Slope Armory on Track to Open in September
The long-awaited opening of an athletic center at the Park Slope Armory is set to happen in September, according to Sean Andrews, executive director of the Prospect Park Y. The new, $16 million center that the Y is running was supposed to open early this year, but contractors are still putting the finishing touches on…
The long-awaited opening of an athletic center at the Park Slope Armory is set to happen in September, according to Sean Andrews, executive director of the Prospect Park Y. The new, $16 million center that the Y is running was supposed to open early this year, but contractors are still putting the finishing touches on construction. While the centerpiece of the armory’s renovation is the overhauled drill floor (above), which will be used primarily for track-and-field purposes, Andrews says the Y wants the facility to be a destination for community recreation. To that end, the armory will be outfitted with what Andrews calls 10 “very large” multi-purpose rooms and the Y will offer programs like mom-and-baby yoga at the center. Andrews says that basic membership will cost $40 a month for adults and, as at other Y’s, financial aid will be available. Open houses and tours of the center are supposed to begin soon.
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Gee- and just when I thought we had lost our resident loon, polemicist pops up to take his place. All hale the visionary polemicist (the poster formerly known as pestilence).
A word to the wise, poley (although that would seem to automatically exclude you)- take your meds, they are ever so much more effective than the aluminum foil cap and antenna you’re wearing.
“The renovated facility will include track and field, basketball, volleyball, tennis, gymnastics, badminton, boxing, fencing, judo, table tennis, tae kwon do, handball, weightlifting, wrestling and aerobics. The renovated facility also retains a women’s shelter.”
I am wondering what else they will have there…
I really wish the armories were utilized for their original purpose: housing a military garrison.
Especially in more dangerous neighborhoods, perhaps a standing army could provide real security that the police are unable or unwilling to provide.
Then there is the issue of our declining economy. The probability of serious civil unrest in the near future is much greater than most believe.
Both residents & CB-6 made a lot of effort to get this done – it’s taken years. Community groups fought many options. It looks as if CH & BedStuy are beginning the same journey, doesn’t it?
I agree that Park Slope has an overabundance of such things, and it would be a tremendous asset to Crown Heights and Bed Stuy to have their armory used for something similar.
With 6 gyms already (that I can think of off the top of my head) in Park Slope proper, plus ample places to run in Prospect Park, it does seem disappointing that other areas are so in need while Park Slope basks in such excess.
The city dangled that carrot in front of us if the community stopped protesting the intake center- however, now they say there is no money for that anyway. So they will screw both the community and the homeless and since this is not a rich community, they really don’t give a you know what about giving anything back to the community other than grief.
There is still a shelter in the Park Slope Armory- the track was the city making it more palatable to Park Slopers.
The women’s shelter does and will still take up the 8th Ave end
The women’s shelter is still there, towards the front of the building. It is possible for an enormous building like this to have several uses. I believe there is also a Veteran’s group in there as well. The Crown Heights and Bed Stuy armories, of similar size, could also be used in the same manner. It’s really criminal that New York City, supposedly the center of the known universe, is so bad at thinking creatively about anything.