Chelsea Piers Prospect Heights

Chelsea Piers Prospect Heights opened in early June and I was very excited to have this new amenity in the neighborhood. I’ve had a few months to explore and included logistical information as well as my two cents in this review.

As a note, one of the confusing things about Chelsea Piers is that there are two distinct memberships and buildings- Chelsea Piers Field House & Chelsea Piers Fitness. I belong to both and I’ll also explain the differences below.  Both of the buildings are on Dean Street in Pacific Park and the now busy corridor between Vanderbilt Avenue and Carlston Avenue. 

Chelsea Piers Field House

I’m starting with the Field House as I know my audience is mostly concerned about kids’ activities; this space is dedicated to kids! The Field House entrance is the Chelsea Piers Dean Street closer to Carlton Ave and the two facilities do not connect at all.

Family Membership

The Field House offers family memberships for $50/month; that is per family not per person. These memberships offer a 10% discount on all youth sports facilities (camp, classes, etc.), early access to sign up for seasonal classes, and exclusive access to drop-in events, including family swim.

A view of the pool during a family swim session. They provide the noodles and balls!

Pool

I’m pretty sure swim lessons are every parent’s favorite topic. This learn-to-swim pool adds a really interesting option because of the flexibility of schedule and the comfort of the space.

Family swim is available at no cost for all members. The hours seem to vary a bit but typically the sessions have been Wednesday 4-5 pm or 5-6 pm, Friday 5-6 pm, and Saturday 12-1 pm or 1-2 pm. A staff member told me they will be expanding family swim to four days a week in the Fall! Note: you do need to bring a combination lock if you want to secure any valuables.

There are seasonal swim classes- fall, spring, etc., and so far these don’t seem as competitive as other pools. There are still openings for 6-year-old lessons for the Fall. They also offer private swim lessons and semi-private. I was impressed that private swim lessons only cost $900 for 11 sessions. (I know that is a very Brooklyn statement.)

The pool temperature was comfortable when I went this week which improves your experience as a parent. The family locker room is quite large with at least 10 private changing stalls that could each fit a family of four. It’s never comfortable getting out of the pool with your kids but this is the best space I’ve seen in Brooklyn. (My husband and I still joke about how cold it was to get changed after baby swim classes at the Dodge YMCA.)

A few of the activity spaces are inside. There is protective fiberglass (!!!) over each section so the pictures don’t do it justice.

Classes

The open space facility is massive and nice. They offer kids classes in Prospect Heights almost everything- gymnastics, basketball, baseball, swimming, parkour, soccer. From what I can tell, they have classes for ages 2-10. (The website is my biggest critique - more on that below).

We haven’t taken any classes yet so I can’t report on the quality. My 3-year-old is signed up for basketball in the Fall and my 6-year-old is signed up for gymnastics. We were at Gotham Gymnastics before so I’m very curious to see how this experience compares to the chaos of Gotham.

Camp

Chelsea Piers has had summer camp since June (Ages 4+) and I’ve heard great things. My one friend said “It is a well-oiled machine”- not a comment made about children’s activities often.  Most of the camps are sports camps but they do also have some arts camps for younger children.  They will also have a school holiday camp and school break camp for all major holidays. Given the amount of space here, this will become a very reliable option for parents looking for childcare.  (Remember, you get 10% off this with family membership.)  It’s great to have such a large kids camp in Prospect Heights! 

Drop-In/Events

Right now, there are drop-in events every Saturday for ages 3+. There are also toddler drop-in playtime hours during the week. I’m biased because I live very close by, but I love having this as an option for rainy weekends. I believe they will also do Friday and Saturday night “date night” options eventually.

You can also book the space for birthday parties and they have private rooms and a foosball play area.

Consensus

I plan to attend a family swim session once a month and I think that alone is worth the family membership. The discount on camps and classes is appealing but I don’t think you get your money’s worth for the family membership unless you’re in camp every school holiday. Regardless of where you live, I’d check this place out for camps or classes in the future!

I do have two critiques:

  1. This place is not your neighborhood gymnastics center, they are planning to make this space crowded. There are already times when I have seen it with weekend drop-in events. I hope they can overcome this with a well-organized staff.

  2. The website is super confusing. Even while I was doing more research for this post, I had issues with the navigation. I think it is precisely because they offer so much but you may need to stop by and talk to the front desk to figure things out.

Chelsea Pier Fitness

A view of the main fitness area at 10:00 a.m. on a summer Thursday.

I was sold on this facility from the get-go because of additional amenities- babysitting and a coworking space! I believe right now they are still offering some discounts- $225- with zero initiation fee. Note: the pool is only available for the field house. There is no lap swim at this location; they do have a pool at the location on Schermerhorn Street.

Babysitting

The babysitting room (tour above) has 2-hour sessions on M-F starting at 9 a.m. and S-S starting at 8:30 a.m. The cost is $20 per child or $180 if you buy a 10-pack (excellent price!). You can put children as young as 6 months here and only 5 children are allowed at one time. They only allow bookings 24 hours in advance and so far availability has been pretty good. (Though I might be doing myself a disservice writing this post.)

Class Schedule from this week. I enjoyed my Pilates Mat class!

Classes

I’ve been impressed with the variety of frequency of classes so far, for example above. I’ve taken almost all of these at least once and found them a step or two below intensity for the specialty gym (ie the AMP’D class has a similar structure to a Crossfit workout but the intensity is dialed down) but still really good. This makes sense to account for the broader audience.

The instructor quality is great and the equipment top top-notch. So far my favorite class is Breakaway Cycling. I love the competitive nature and the 45 minutes fly by! Fair warning: if you’re in a class with me, I tend to be the top-performing female. Always looking for a good race though ;).

Locker Rooms

I haven’t been an Equinox member in a while but these locker rooms are as nice if not nicer. There is high-end shampoo, conditioner, lotion, combs, straightening irons, hair ties, etc. There are even robes provided!

The co-working lounge is at 10 a.m. on a Thursday. This is less crowded than usual.

Co-working Lounge

Working as a real estate agent, my schedule always varies. This space is super convenient to be able to open up your laptop and accomplish what you need (or maybe take advantage of some babysitting time). There are three phone booths for calls but don’t expect to be able to use one. Every Time I’ve been there, someone is camped out in the space.

The general work area has great ambient noise and I’ve been able to take non-sensitive calls in the general area without any dirty looks.

Equipment

I’m going to try and list out any specialized equipment outside of the average gym machines. Here’s what I’ve noticed: Peloton Bikes, Mirror, weightlifting platforms, Boxing bags, TRX.

Everything is top-of-the-line and orderly (so far).

Consensus

Overall, I’m really happy and plan to get even more value when my kids go back to school. To me, there are only two reasons why I wouldn’t recommend signing up.

  1. If you’re passionate about a certain type of workout. My husband loves CrossFit, a more general gym doesn’t make sense.

  2. You don’t have the time to work out at least 2-3x a week. This is an expensive gym, if you only workout casually, the monthly commitment doesn’t make sense.

I’m happy with the offering so far but my only concern is how busy the location will get. The gym is below a massive rental building (800+ units) and they offer a discount to residents. Crowds haven’t been prohibitive to me yet but it could become a concern.

Any other specific questions about Chelsea Piers Brooklyn I missed?

Katie