Much-Watched Lyceum in Park Slope Will Be Blink Fitness, Not Trader Joe's or Apple

Just days after developer Greystone released a rendering for the luxury rental building it is planning for next door to Park Slope’s much-watched Lyceum, a landmarked former public bath on development-heavy 4th Avenue, it announced it has found a tenant for the century-old Beaux Arts building: Blink Fitness.

The no-frills gym chain will be taking up the whole 16,700-square-foot space at 227 4th Avenue, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal. Greystone bought the Lyceum this year at a foreclosure auction, intending to turn it into condos — and subsequently snapped up the development site next door.

When Greystone recently announced it had dropped its condo plans for the Lyceum and was seeking a retailer or two, Brownstoner commenters said they would like to see an Apple or Trader Joe’s move into the space.

Greystone’s many Brooklyn projects include 47 Bridge Street in Vinegar Hill and the luxury apartments replacing White Castle at 531 Myrtle Avenue in Clinton Hill. Stephen Rosenberg founded the large development and real estate lender and management company.

This brings the Lyceum, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, back to one of its past incarnations. After its first life as a bath house (1908-1937), but before its recent turn as a performance space (1994-2013), the Lyceum was, for a time, a city-run gymnasium.

The gym will open in 2016, the developer said.

Blink Fitness Leases Brooklyn Lyceum Site [WSJ]
Brooklyn Lyceum Coverage [Brownstoner]
Rendering by Paperfarm via NYY

The Lyceum under netting several years ago. Photo by Suzanne Spellen