(Photo: Daniel Maurer)
And there she is: on the heels of Chopt’s opening at 51 Astor this week, signage has gone up indicating that next month, Flywheel will move into the sleek new office building next month. New York City! Sinning is out and spinning is in.
The Soulcycle competitor is just the latest boutique gym to open near Cooper Square. Others include Barry’s Boot Camp and Mile High Run Club. Also entering the mix is NYU’s 404 Fitness, which opened Monday at 404 Lafayette Street. The three-floor facility for strength training, aerobics, dance and yoga is an interim replacement for the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center, which finally closed last week despite ongoing protests.
The rooftop tennis court at Coles. Goodbye to all that. (Photo: Daniel Maurer)
The closing date of Coles had been in flux as NYU renovated Crunch’s former location on Lafayette Street, near East 4th Street. In October, Faculty Against the Sexton Plan called the shuttering “dangerously premature” and complained that NYU’s interim facility didn’t offer all of the same amenities. While NYU students and community members can still use the pool and gymnasiums over at the Palladium Athletic Facility, there are currently no on-campus courts for tennis, racquetball, and squash. (As an NYU employee, I’ve used those courts and am officially bummed. Fact is, there are next to no places downtown where you can reenact the racquetball scene from Manhattan.)
Sadly, Coles’s glorious rooftop spread (including tennis courts, a running track, and a batting cage) will not be returning when NYU opens a replacement facility inside of a new building that will also include classrooms, performing-arts spaces, and faculty and student housing.
Cue “This Used to Be My Playground.”