Update 7/2/2020: The developer contacted me to let me know that 24 Hour Fitness has not rejected the lease and still might be coming to the Modern.

Original Post

At last night’s ANC 5A public meeting, ANC Commissioner Gordon Fletcher (5A08) announced that 24 Hour Fitness has backed out of its contract to anchor the first phase of Art Place at Fort Totten due to the financial impact of COVID-19. The first phase, called the Modern at Art Place, was completed in fall 2017. As noted in this post, the company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy so this result is not too surprising, though disappointing. Notably HR Retail, the leasing agent for the development, has an updated brochure and site plan for Art Place that do not list 24 Hour Fitness (though 24 Hour Fitness is still listed as a confirmed tenant on HR Retail’s website). It looks like those marketing materials were updated on June 23, 2020.

With DC’s move into Phase Two of reopening on June 22, 2020, gyms are now permitted to reopen at reduced capacity. But this comes after months of being closed. Other gyms and fitness companies have also filed for bankruptcy or permanently closed locations.

I for one was really looking forward to having a decent gym in the neighborhood and I still am. I thought perhaps one benefit of not having the gym built out at Art Place at this point would be that by the time the gym finished building out the space, we would be further along in managing COVID-19, so we would have the benefit of time. It is unclear if the developer is now negotiating with another gym.