Victoria’s Secret models might soon be mingling with residents of the Bowery as ModelFIT, a fitness program that caters to supermodels like Lily Aldridge and Miranda Kerr, recently signed on for a gym in the area. The fitness center completed a seven-year deal for 1,500 square feet on the second floor of 212 Bowery, between Spring and Prince streets. Asking rent was $80 a square foot. The space includes an outdoor patio.The neighborhood is rapidly developing as the place to be for hotels, retail stores and restaurants, said Adam Stupak, who represented ModelFIT along with fellow Task Real Estate broker Jason Sandlofer. "The whole area is hot—everything is happening there," Mr. Stupak said. "It's not like the Bowery of 10 years ago."
The arrival of nearby retailers such as Intermix and Patagonia have helped push ground floor retail rents to around $200 a square foot—still a bargain compared with SoHo's retail rents of more than $600 a square foot. ModelFIT, which also operates out of a gym in TriBeCa, should open in about five months in its new space above a kitchen supply store, Mr. Stupak said. It replaces a photography studio.
