The fitness club has leased the entire second and third floors of Ben Shaoul's incoming development on East Houston and Orchard, the Post reports.
There's still 30,000 square feet of retail for the renting, per the Post.
Ben Shaoul and Real Estate Equities, a Midtown-based firm, paid $75 million for the one-level group of properties next to Katz's on East Houston and Orchard Street. Demolition is apparently underway.
Shaoul's 10-story building will include 83 residential units.
Heyyy.....
ReplyDelete.....dumbbells for the dumbbells.
Wow, Equinox?! I rant about the spread of all the identical juice bars and bro bars like many of us here, but at least with those businesses, I could conceivably walk in and afford the product. Equinox is way, way outside of what many in the neighborhood can afford. It's sad to see all the newcomers to our storefronts only aim for a wealthy clientele.
ReplyDeleteWell now that Dolphin has promised me a $90 refund for the six months they burned me on, I suppose I have enough for maybe a one day membership at Equinox.
ReplyDelete83 over priced residential units you mean
ReplyDeleteKatz's is going to need to go. Can't having people who are working out and luxuriating in themselves smelling salted and cured meats.
ReplyDeleteI used to belong to this gym several years ago. My monthly membership was $130.00. Now, it is $150.00 with $500 initiation fee. It was a beautiful gym, but the overall cost is what drove me to cancel. Most of the members were wealthy too. I agree. How do many of the neighbors afford such a high fee? Gentrification is at its finest.
ReplyDeleteI'm a terrible yuppie with an Equinox gym membership (I'm a freelancer and they're near a bunch of my clients), but yuck! I'm really tired of the fancy luxury things sprouting up in my nice, normal neighborhood. After being around the rest of Manhattan all day, I like coming home to a part of the city that's still small-scale and quirky and weird, where people don't have to be super rich or fancy and frankly, where people don't value giant signs of wealth.
ReplyDeleteI'll probably use it, since it's the one closest to my home, but I'll feel the same shame I feel when I go past the bank where Mars Bar is. I've gotten used to KMart and Starbucks over time, but I wish they'd all just stop it already.
"I'll probably use it" do you not understand how completely illogical and contradicting your statements are? @anonymous 7:32
ReplyDeleteI'm in the minority on this blog, but I have to say this is good news for me. I'm an Equinox member and I've just been waiting for them to open a location in one of the new developments around here.
ReplyDeleteGym for the wealthy? Do they allow members to work out with their pets?
ReplyDelete@ Anon 7:32 PM
ReplyDeleteYou can't have it both ways, "I've gotten used to KMart and Starbucks over time, but I wish they'd all just stop it already". When you support Starbucks and other corporate chains you only tell corporate America that the EV can support more of the same. Want to keep your and our neighborhood "still small-scale and quirky and weird" support small-scale not chains.
I hate gyms. You waste enough time going to and from you could just run a few miles instead.
ReplyDeleteAgree with the last commenter. Gyms don't give a shit about clients. They just want your money. In the warmer months, rent a bike, take long walks along the East River, do pushups, squats, and stretching in your apt. You will be just as fit and you will save money. As someone who is now 40, I am sad to witness NYC becoming the place to make it as opposed to the place of making something, doing something creative. This is a playground for the elite and rich and famous. The rest of us common folk are fucked if we don't win the lottery or create a smartphone app.
ReplyDeleteI'm not rich enough for Equinox, but I can't stand the inevitable comment that comes with every post about a gym: "Who needs a gym membership? Why don't you just run for free?"
ReplyDeleteBecause running is not the be-all, end-all to exercise; because I don't have room for a weight rack in my apartment; because I don't even have a tub, let alone a sauna and steam room, which my gym does; because I like to take classes and try new forms of exercise; and, finally, because people who run on sidewalks are total assholes.
Here Here!!! @ 7:30. MORE OF YOU NEED TO PRACTICE YOUR POLITICS WITH YOUR WALLET. DON'T SUPPORT THE CORP. CHAINS AND BE VERY VOCAL ABOUT IT. IF THE PRICE IS TOO HIGH, SAY SO OUT LOUD, i.e. "Wow, that's sooo expensive; I think I'll shop elsewhere." Let your feelings be heard. Stop shopping altogether if that's what it takes...or take your money to LOCAL businesses. They have everything the chains have, largely except for the attitude, the carbon copy "sameness/blandness" that all fearful newcomers seem to require to feel "safe", and the prices are typically lower. In my experience, the owners and shopkeepers so value your support, you end up getting better service. YOU DON'T NEED TO BUY STARBUCKS. YOU DON'T NEED A giant-sized soda from 7-11. And c'mon, if the big K dropped to the ground in a heartbeat, who would care? All the NYU idiots get bussed to Bed Bath and Beyond via the purple primadonna trolleys anyway. K-mart is for suckers.
ReplyDeleteWhen a high-end club opens on the ground floor having a gym above instead of residents will make more sense.
ReplyDeleteThe service sector is our future. Manufacturing did more harm than good with its pollution, and Retail on upper floors is mostly a thing of the past.
Considering the alternatives, a gym might be the least worse option. Still, the Chinatown YMCA down the block is cheaper and much better. Been a member since it first opened, and still can't believe it's not overrun with hipsters.