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An opening ceremony was held this morning for the $16 million, 140,000 square foot YMCA space. It will be open year-round to the public and will offer diverse programming including sports, fitness, arts and cultural activities.

Officials are glad the 115-year-old armory will finally be able to fulfill its promise of bringing affordable fun to Park Slope.

"The YMCA is committed to getting kids in here for everything from physical education, after school, summer camp, and really making it a destination of choice for families in Brooklyn,” said YMCA of Greater New York Executive Director Sean Andrews.

"It was going unused. It was just vacant, and it was an eyesore,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, a former city councilman. “The community was worried that some really bad use would come in here, and people got together in the community and decided the thing we needed most was recreation, especially for our kids."

"This is really an incredible opportunity for our kids to become more physically fit,” said Cynthia Holton, the school’s principal.

“A lot of the schools, believe it or not, have no gymnasiums, and obviously they can't go outdoors during the colder months,” said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. “And so this will be a great facility by day, during the school year, for the schools to utilize and make sure that our children don't look like me by the time they're my age."

Students who will use the new complex are already giving it rave reviews.

"It's huge! And has soccer nets,” said one youngster.

"I like it a lot,” said another. “I like the running track and the soccer."

A women's homeless shelter, which had been at the facility before the renovations, will also be keeping its spot. The Department of Homeless Services donate $8 million toward the armory's renovation.

The rest of the funding came from the borough president's office and the City Council.

The borough president said he would like to see other old armories in Brooklyn get similar renovations.

"Sumner Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, and the Bedford Atlantic Armory in northern Crown Heights are two primes examples of armories in which the residents of those communities want exactly the same as the folks now have in Park Slope, and area surrounding Park Slope," Markowitz said.

Individual memberships will cost $40 a month. It will cost $72 a month for families.

The new facility officially opens to the public on January 30th.

For more information, got ymcanyc.org.