Leases  ·  Retail

South Africa-Based Fitness Concept Entering U.S. Market by Way of Soho

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Switch Playground, a South Africa-based group fitness concept, is coming to One Vandam, a new 14-story condominium also known as 176 Avenue of the Americas between Spring and Prince Streets, Commercial Observer has learned. This will be the company’s first location in the United States.

Switch “combines carefully selected aspects of cardiovascular training, functional training, boxing, plyometric training, core stability and power-flow yoga to create a perfectly balanced playground for the body and soul,” according to its website. It’s lone location is in Cape Town, South Africa.

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The tenant has taken 754 square feet at grade and 5,413 square feet below grade, according to Rafe Evans of Walker Malloy & Company, who represented the owner, a development team headed by Quinlan Development Group. The asking rent in the 12-year deal was $250 on the ground level and $75 in the sub-level.

“Switch Playground beat out nine other fitness offers including women’s fitness, yoga, mixed martial arts and children’s fitness,” Mr. Evans said via email. “Switch stepped up and was very fast and responsive and secured the deal properly.”

The tenant was represented in last week’s deal by Jonathan Burke and Lena Roth of J.W. Burke & Company.

Mr. Burke said this will be Switch Playground’s U.S. flagship location.

“Switch Playground will set a new standard and literally raise the bar for the boutique fitness model as we know it,” Mr. Burke said. “Basically it is a group fitness concept in a ultra cool nightclub setting with multiple instructors teaching any given class.”

Switch Playground will open in the first quarter of 2016.

Mr. Evans and colleague Eric Fisher are marketing 7,469 square feet of ground-floor retail space with 500 square feet of basement storage space at One Vandam. There are 25 residential condo units in the building and almost all have been pre-sold, Mr. Evans said.