Rec Center construction leaves void in community

This story was originally published in the NYCity News Service.

For nearly 100 years, Sunset Park residents of all ages have gathered at the Sunset Park Recreation Center—to exercise, play and be in community with their neighbors. But as long-awaited construction to rehabilitate the space drags into its third year, community members say the center’s closure has left a gap in their neighborhood.

The space was created as part of the Works Progress Administration under former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the complex—which includes a bathhouse, gym, weight room, basketball court, classrooms and Olympic-size swimming pool—encompasses almost a third of Sunset Park’s 24-acre public park.

Now, a chain-link fence blocks off the center, and its many amenities go unused. Residents have been able to use the pool during the summer months, but only through a side entrance and with no access to the complex’s other facilities.

Community board chairperson Julio Peña III grew up swimming at the rec center’s pool. He said that the neighborhood has limited options for hosting events and activities, so the community has felt the lengthy closure of such a well-used space.

“It affects everybody,” Peña said.

Prior to its September 2023 closure for construction, the recreation center hosted various community activities, including the New York City Parks Afterschool Program in the computer lab and an annual Lunar New Year celebration.

Sunset Park is a densely populated and diverse community made up of mostly Asian, Hispanic and white residents. The neighborhood has an above-average number of households with children under 18 years old – 31%, compared with 26% in Brooklyn as a whole.

District Manager Jeremy Laufer said the recreation center was unique in offering diverse services to the area’s diverse population “all under one roof.”

“I don’t think there’s really another place like it in the community,” said Peña, the community board chairperson.

A 2022 Commercial District Needs Assessment of Sunset Park found that a “lack of cultural anchors, such as theaters, museums, galleries, and community centers, leaves the community without central gathering spaces and masks the rich cultural activity.”

The recreation center also offered a low-cost membership and some free services to the neighborhood.

“We don’t have YMCAs and things like that, so this is it for Sunset Park,” said District 38 Council Member Alexa Avilés.

A $150 annual membership provides access to all New York City Recreation Centers ($100 for access to centers with indoor pools) and access is free for people under 25. However, the city recreation center nearest to Sunset Park would be a 2-mile walk or 40-minute train ride. Closer gyms charge up to $500 annually. Even Planet Fitness, a discount gym in the area, charges almost $300 for a yearlong membership.

Before its closure, the Sunset Park Recreation Center was overdue for renovation. Since its opening in 1936, the center had undergone only one major construction project. In the early 1980s, a $5 million restoration included work on the pool, bathhouse, public restrooms and a new water filtration system. Sunset Parkers would have to wait another 40 years — and counting — for a necessary update.

Plans for the center’s current renovation started back in 2015. The Parks Department wanted to make the building more functional for year-round use, which would require enclosing the previously open-air atrium and updating the heating, cooling and ventilation system. But delays have dogged every phase of the project.

Chris Clark, New York City Parks Department press officer, said in an email that construction was delayed “due to additional scope required for exterior brick and parapet walls.”

The parks department also postponed some work to allow pool access in summer 2024 and 2025.

Council Member Avilés said that delay is par for the course with a capital-funded renovation like this one.

“It’s almost like a miracle if they actually start and end on time,” she said.

The Parks Department initially said that construction would finish in March 2025. Now, seven months beyond the projected completion date, Sunset Parkers still do not have access to their recreation center.

“A lot of us have been wondering, when’s it going to reopen?” said Phoebe Gilpin, who moved to Sunset Park in 2020. “And [we have] no idea.”

The project is now expected to be complete in spring of 2026, according to sources.