SoulCycle, Blink Fitness land at JTRE’s Midtown retail conversion

Jack Terzi also set to buy nearby rental building for $20M

From left: Rendering of 240 East 54th Street in Midtown and Jack Terzi
From left: Rendering of 240 East 54th Street in Midtown and Jack Terzi

JTRE Holdings’ Jack Terzi is giving his new three-story Midtown East retail building, which is undergoing a conversion from a parking garage, a health and fitness theme. Discount gym chain Blink Fitness, a division of Equinox, and spinning studio SoulCycle each signed 20-year leases last week for a combined 25,000 square feet of the 30,000-square-foot property at 234-240 East 54th Street, The Real Deal has learned.

Blink Fitness is taking 20,500 square feet on the full second and third floors and part of the ground floor. SoulCycle grabbed 4,500 square feet of the ground-floor space.

Terzi said he is seeking a juice or salad tenant for the remainder of the space. Just up the street, Equinox occupies the retail space at the Mondrian at 246-254 East 54th Street.

There were no brokers involved in the Blink Fitness or SoulCycle lease deals, he added.

JTRE closed on the purchase of the garage from the Gould family for $21 million last week after entering contract in December, Terzi said.

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Meanwhile, JTRE is also in contract to buy a five-story rental building at 1004-1008 Second Avenue at East 53rd Street from Judith Margulies’ J.M. Properties of New York for $20 million. The 15,600-square-foot property features 2,700 square feet of ground-floor retail.

But unlike the building on East 54th Street, Terzi has no plans for a conversion.

“We see a lot of value in this neighborhood,” Terzi told TRD. “We’re leaving [the East 54th Street building] as rentals.”

Cushman & Wakefield’s Clint Olsen represented the seller in the Second Avenue deal, while JTRE’s Ricky Braha represented the buyer in-house, Terzi said.