Equinox Gym Sued for $3.3M in Missed Rent at 670 Broadway
By Celia Young August 18, 2021 11:35 am
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Yet another New York City landlord is taking high-end gym Equinox to court for skipping out on rent.
Cara Investment GmbH filed a $3.3 million lawsuit against Equinox in New York Supreme Court on Tuesday for allegedly not paying rent on its 670 Broadway location, court documents show.
The suit is one of at least five lawsuits against the chain, amounting to a whopping $10.6 million that Equinox’s landlords claim the gym owes.
The owners of SoHo’s 568 Broadway filed a lawsuit against Equinox last month, alleging the gym owes more than $3.3 million in rent and other fees, Commercial Observer reported. The owners of 14 Wall Street and 196 Orchard Street filed separate lawsuits in February to get a combined $2.7 million in back rent from Equinox.
“Across the board, it seems like they’re not fulfilling their agreements,” Howard Kingsley, an attorney at Rosenberg & Estis who’s representing the landlord, told Commercial Observer. Kingsley is also working on Paramount Group‘s $1.6 million lawsuit against Equinox for the rent and other fees it owes at 1633 Broadway.
Equinox began its lease at 670 Broadway in 2015 and paid about $300,000 per month in rent, according to court documents. During the pandemic, Equinox agreed to defer rent until three months after gym capacity restrictions were lifted in New York, but starting in December 2020, Equinox allegedly stopped paying rent for the location, according to the suit.
Frankfurt, Germany-based Cara, which owns properties in Europe, purchased the building that Equinox occupies from the Paramount Group for $130.5 million in 2019, according to property records.
Equinox made headlines during the coronavirus pandemic when it told the owners of its more than 300 locations that it wouldn’t pay rent in April 2020, because the pandemic forced Equinox to temporarily shutter its locations.
The gym’s decision to stop paying rent came the same week that Jeff Blau, CEO of Related Companies — a major investor of the gym — criticized tenants on CNBC for not paying their dues and said the pandemic was “not an excuse” to miss rent. (A spokesperson for Related told CO that Equinox is a separate entity that makes its own decisions.)
Equinox did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Cara Investment could not immediately be reached for comment.
Update: This story has been updated to include a statement from Cara’s lawyer.
Celia Young can be reached at cyoung@commercialobserver.com.
