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Brushing Off Boycott, Equinox Signs 20-Year Lease for Location in NoMad Section of NYC

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By Hadassa Kalatizadeh

Equinox, the luxury fitness company which operates 98 full-service locations in major cities throughout the U.S. and beyond, is expanding its NYC footprint. As reported by Crain’s NY, Equinox signed a 20-year lease for a new 39,000-square-foot location at 31 W. 27th Street, in the bustling NoMad area.

The expansion comes even as the company has been facing backlash for partial owner Stephen Ross’s Hamptons fundraiser for President Trump’s reelection campaign. Blue-New Yorkers have been fuming, cancelling their memberships and threatening to boycott the popular gym chain since the news of Ross’ support for Trump broke out in early August. Ross, who is the founder and chairman of Related Company, the real estate development company, held a fundraiser in his Hamptons home raising $100,000 per plate from attendees and $250,000 for those who took part in a private round table discussion with President Trump.

Equinox and Soulcycle, another fitness brand owned in part by Ross, were boycotted even though the companies both disavowed Ross’s support for the president, and belittled Ross’ ownership role in the companies. Equinox’s Executive Chairman Harvey Spevak even sent out letters to members and staff describing Ross as a passive investor. Though public boycotts of the sort rarely have the momentum to seriously damage a company, one report by Vox said that SoulCycle’s attendance declined by as much 7.5% in the first week of September.

Equinox’s new lease at the 12-story, 144,500-square-foot building, is located just a few doors down from a SoulCycle location. Equinox, founded in 1991, is taking on the basement and ground levels in the office and retail property, as well as the entirety of the second and third floors. “From our perspective, this is a huge amenity for our tenants,” said Cooper Kramer, a managing director at Savanna, the real estate investment firm that owns the building. “It’s representative of the changing streetscape in the NoMad neighborhood.”

Savanna, which bought 31 W. 27th St. two years ago, invested close to $10 million in renovating the building. The firm also signed a deal with Argentic Investment Management, a financial firm, to lease the building’s entire top floor, which is about 12,000 square feet. The asking rent in the building was $85 per square foot. “We have owned several assets in this submarket, and there’s a lot of momentum here,” Kramer said.

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