Crunch founder pays $6.3M to pension fund for office, retail in Nolita, down from $13M in 2016

Big Move Properties through the entity Big Big Bowery LLC paid $6.3 million to Arizona State Retirement System through the entity Cholla 216 LLC for the retail building (O5) at 216 Bowery in Nolita, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing.
The deal closed on June 3, 2025 and was recorded on June 4, 2025. The property has 9,490 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $660 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)
The seller bought the property on March 11, 2016, for $13 million. The signatory for Arizona State Retirement System was Maria G. Breland . The signatory for Big Move Properties was Douglas Levine . The contract date was April 25, 2025.

Douglas Levine founded the gym Crunch Fitness in New York City, then sold it in 2001. He founded other firms as well as the real estate firm Big Move Properties that is based in Florida.

The sale was brokered by a team at Atlantic Capital Partners, including Chris Peterson, Evan Clements, Danielle Turpin, Austin Knief, and Joe Mastromonaco. Atlantic Capital Partners is the investment sales division of the brokerage Atlantic Retail.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Big Move Properties had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Arizona State Retirement System had not purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $7.5 million over the same time period. The 9,490-square-foot property generated revenue of $946,869 or $100 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The retail building in Nolita has 9,490 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,500 square feet. The zoning is C6-1 which allows for up to 6 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 3.44 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $4.7 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $3,000 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on October 20, 2022. There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Nolita, The bulk, or 50 percent of the 3.1 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space. In sales, Nolita has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $93.1 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Nolita has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 258,540 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 8 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 12 of the 22 commercial properties representing 183,068 square feet of the 289,314 square feet. The largest owner is S.W. Management, followed by RFR Holding and then Kin Wong.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 31 percent of the 289,314 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 22 percent of the space.

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