The new YMCA Sports Complex at the Park Slope Armory.   (Photo: Courtesy of the YMCA)

• YMCA Sports Complex at the Park Slope Armory

  361 15th St., nr. Seventh Ave., Park Slope; 212-912-2580

  It doesn’t have the river location or the pool of the Chelsea Piers complex, but the soaring ceilings and nineteenth-century feel of this former drill hall make it more magnificent. Just opened after a $16 million renovation, with an Olympic-caliber 200-meter track as its centerpiece, the Y is fine-tuned for its neighborhood, with dozens of kid and parent-child programs. In addition to the beautiful track that dominates the space, there’s basketball, yoga, and cardio classes, plus art and writing programs and complimentary child care for members. And because it is, after all, Park Slope, there’s “Stroller Strut” hour from 9 to 10 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday. Monthly membership is $40 individual, $72 per family, plus a $75 initiation fee.

From the 2010 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine