Rock climbing gym takes 45K sf at Essex Crossing

The enormous Essex Crossing megadevelopment on the Lower East Side is now up and running, but its developers just added a tenant that could be vital to its future.

Rock climbing chain Vital Climbing Gym has claimed 45,000 square feet across three floors at 182 Broome Street, an office and retail building on the eastern end of the complex, the New York Post reported. The gym will move into the empty space next spring, set to offer instruction in climbing, bouldering, yoga, cycling and weightlifting.

The gym’s rent and the length of its lease were not disclosed. Asking rents at the property, owned by a group of developers called Delancey Street Associates, ranged from $80 to more than $130 per square foot as recently as 2021, according to the Commercial Observer.

A CBRE team led by Michael Kadosh and Lon Rubackin represented Vital in the deal, the Observer added. It will be Vital’s eighth location nationwide and its fourth in the city, joining outposts in Williamsburg and Harlem and on the Upper East Side. Last month, an entity tied to Cayuga Capital Management sold a Williamsburg warehouse — home to one of those Vital gyms — to EPR Properties for $43 million.

Essex Crossing, at the corner of Essex and Delancey Streets, was recently completed. The 1.9 million-square-foot complex was developed by a joint venture between Taconic Partners, L+M Development, BFC Partners, Prusik Group and Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Urban Investment Group.

Last year, Deutsche Bank and Square Mile Capital provided $466 million in new debt for the complex. The financing replaced $455 million worth of construction loans. The new debt is earmarked towards stabilizing the project’s second phase, which will include offices, rental apartments and residential condominiums.

The broader complex consists of nine sites with more than 1,000 residences, 350,000 square feet of offices, 300,000 square feet of retail and 100,000 square feet of open space. Among the office tenants are Verizon, which agreed to lease more than 140,000 square feet at 155 Delancey Street in 2021.

— Holden Walter-Warner