Downtown Miami’s DavidBartonGym suddenly closed overnight, ending for now the area’s 20 year-plus love affair with founder David Barton’s nightclub-like workout rooms that often featured as many celebrities as muscle heads.
The closure also include the company’s facilities in New York, Chicago, Boston and Seattle.
Already this morning, Miami was wiped out of the locations tag in davidbartongym.com. The website now indicates that only the gyms in Honolulu, Las Vegas and Los Angeles remain open for now.
The company sent five-paragraph emails to its Miami members overnight, telling them that the downtown gym was shuttered up because of “competitive market conditions.”
There’s no mention of reimbursements for long-term membership users.
Although he says he hasn’t worked for the company since 2013, the 52-year-old Barton’s name remained on DavidBartonGym owner Club Ventures’ incorporation papers.
Barton didn’t return calls left on his cellphone but eventually released this statement: “I’m sad to hear that DavidBartonGym is closing down this way. It’s been several years since I’ve been part of the company, but I thoroughly enjoyed building the business and appreciate the efforts of everyone who made DBG what it was. People are calling and showing up at my new gym, TMPL. I’m not quite sure what to do for everyone, but it’s the holidays, come in and work out on me for now. We’ll figure something out in 2017.”
