In a wellness-oriented city, apartment seekers are increasingly obsessed with having their favorite gym nearby
When Roxanne Adamiyatt went looking for a new apartment, she had a few must-haves in mind, beyond mundane concerns like layout and washer-dryer access. Chief among them was her fitness routine. “I’m not a person who does well working out on my own. I need a class to motivate me,” admitted Adamiyatt, an editor at InStyle. “I was also incredibly spoiled moving from the Upper West Side, where I lived but a few blocks from the SoulCycle I took classes at a few times a week. Once you get used to that, it’s hard to give it up.”
Fortunately, Adamiyatt found a building in close proximity to her fitness favorites. “Naturally, when I realized that there was a SoulCycle location two blocks from where I was considering a new apartment, that pretty much sealed the deal for me,” she said.
Real estate insiders have caught on to the fitness lifestyle trend, and how much it matters to buyers and renters as they evaluate neighborhoods and properties.
“When looking for an apartment, there were a couple of deal-breakers for us, and one of them was that a gym needed to be in the building, or really close by,” Zuckerwise told the Observer. “Both of us work incredibly hard, and finding gym time isn’t easy. Having the gym close and accessible was pretty important to us.”
Enter the Easton, where the lavishly outfitted Equinox is reachable both from the street entrance as well as through the building itself.
“I knew I wanted somewhere that was aesthetically appealing,” she said, “I don’t always like working out. I’m tired, because it’s usually early in the morning or late in the day, so you want a place that you look forward to going to. It’s pretty, it’s clean, the people are nice and the music is great—it’s upbeat!” she said happily. “Once I drag myself in there, I’m like, ‘This will be O.K.! It’ll be a nice experience.’Stribling broker Alexa Lambert echoed Related’s Cho about the primacy of onsite workout facilities. “Amenities have caught up with finishes,” she told the Observer. “You can’t just have a gym, and you can’t get away with doing it cheap.”
Lambert worked with the Naftali Group designing condo buildings at 210 West 77th Street, 221 West 77th Street and the Shephard, at 275 West 10th Street. “We spend time with architects talking about if gyms should be wood-paneled, how the lighting should be and we meet with equipment experts. We want these places to be used,” she said, “and be beautiful, and reflect the building and help sell the building.”
Gone—or at least going—are the days of the neglected, poorly lit gym. “People are using amenities much more than they used to because amenities are much nicer than they used to be,” Lambert stated. At the Shephard, “Our gym has this dark herringbone wood up the wall,” she said. “It’s cozy, it’s stunning and it’s gorgeous.”
Still, Lambert notes that developers need to be attuned to the neighborhood, and how it impacts the way potential residents view fitness amenities. In the West Village, for example, people simply like to be out. “At the Shephard, the pull is what is right outside the front door. The West Village has so much—it’s one of the best neighborhoods in the city to have access to, with these cool, sporty activities and shopping and restaurants—amenities are just icing on the cake.”