Crunch closing Grand Avenue location

Company had fitness facility at Marina City for nine years

29-Aug-09 – Crunch is closing the fitness facility at Grand and Wabash that took in Marina City residents when its location there closed last year.

AGT Crunch Acquisition LLC filed for bankruptcy on May 6. The New York company is in the process of selling assets and memberships to other health clubs, including CH Fitness Investors LLC. With loans to Crunch of more than $40 million, CH Fitness Investors will use the outstanding debt to buy the company instead of paying cash.

Various sources say the Grand Avenue location could close as early as September 8, pending approval by the bankruptcy court.

Crunch CEO Tim Miller says the bankruptcy filing and acquisition by CH Fitness Investors will allow his company to improve its operations and finances, eventually emerging as a “strong player” in the fitness industry.

(Above) Photo on the Crunch web site of its location at 38 East Grand Avenue in Chicago. The site describes the club’s interior as “a lively design that houses a wealth of state-of-the-art equipment, five separate studios and a boxing ring.”

Rent still too high, says Crunch

On July 31, 2008, the Crunch locations at Marina City and 820 North Orleans closed. At the time, General Manager Sean Herron said they were “unable to negotiate acceptable lease agreements” at either location.

High rent continues to be a problem for Crunch. According to court documents, they were paying $50,283 per month for the Grand Avenue location and $122,057 per month for a location at 939 West North Avenue that is still open. Another location, on North Lincoln Avenue, closed in February.

Crunch also blames its financial issues on its acquisition in 2006 of 25 fitness clubs from Bally Total Fitness Corporation, which had the Marina City location prior to Crunch leasing it. Crunch claims Bally misrepresented the number of members the clubs had, and did not disclose rate-increase restrictions in member contracts.

When the Marina City location closed in 2008, members were offered incentives to switch to one of the other Crunch locations. It’s not known exactly how many Marina City residents continued with Crunch at another location. Company officials referred Marina City Online to a media relations contact who did not immediately return a message on Friday.