Crunch Fitness Planning New Gym at 240 Smith St. in Cobble Hill

COBBLE HILL, BROOKLYN — Crunch Fitness wants to open a new gym on the previously vacant lot at 240 Smith St.

According to an application the company filed with Community Board 6, which represents Cobble Hill, the gym would take up the basement, first and second floors of a three story building, currently under construction.

The 10,000 square foot gym would include fitness, spinning and a women's locker room in the basement, a reception area, child care, exercise equipment and the men's locker room on the first floor, and more exercise equipment on the second floor.

Crunch says it's expecting 4,000 to 6,000 members at the location, and between 500 to 750 visits per day. At its peak, the gym would have 125 people exercising at once. The proposed hours of operation are 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday. Finally, the business says it expects to hire 30 staffers for the location.

CB 6's land use committee will consider the proposal at its Dec. 22 meeting, scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. at the Miccio Center, located at 110 W. 9th St. (You can read the full agenda here.)

RED HOEK POINT: Also on the CB 6 agenda for Dec. 22: the board will cast its first vote on the proposed Red Hoek Point development at 280 Richards St. in Red Hook.

Thor Equities, the developer behind the 795,000 square foot project, which includes 620,000 square feet of "creative office space" and about 23,000 square feet of retail, is asking the city to cut its parking requirement by approximately half.

At its meeting, the land use committee will decide whether it wants to back that request.

A group of locals forming a group called the Red Hook Community Collaboration have cited Thor's request as a leverage point they can use to negotiate a Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) with the developer.

The group, led by organizers Karen Blondel and Charlene Nimmons, have already submitted a draft CBA to Thor, which, among other things, requests that 10 percent of the proposed property's office space be set aside for community activities.

The company has yet to respond publicly to the CBA, but Thor spokesman Josh Greenwald said the developer believes the project "will have significant benefits for the local Red Hook community."

Pictured at top: an old image of 240 Smith St. Image via Google Maps.