Feud is over between gym owner and landlord of famed Village People ‘YMCA’ building

A simmering feud between David Barton, a pioneer of the gym-as-nightclub movement, and the landlord of the building where he is based—and which was originally made famous as the YMCA in the Village People anthem—has been settled, Straus News can exclusively report.

Barton told us that there is a “happy ending” to the saga, which seemed to have all the makings of a classic landlord/tenant feud.

Barton concedes a project like his Gym U NYC doesn’t come without a few “ding dongs,” as he puts it.

The ongoing drama erupted into public view in late March when the landlord of the West 23rd Street gym, Mitchell Marks, filed a claim that Barton owed $1.4 million in back rent. According to Crain’s New York Business, Barton signed a 10-year lease with a monthly base rate of $64,000.

“Barton took the space as is, and ‘as is’ is a pretty clear term,” Marks told Crain’s. “But I believe this will be resolved shortly. Tenants all the time see how far they can push landlords.”

On the flip side, Leila Timergaleeva, Gym U’s general manager, said that Marks owes even more to the gym in the form of guaranteed amenities.

In response to Marks’s complaint, Barton filed a Yellowstone, which essentially protects his lease until the case is resolved. Barton’s move to address the matter and Marks’s statement suggested that both men were looking to prioritize an agreement.

“The landlord has been patient,” Barton said. “I felt differently about the way things were represented to each other and dealt with it as a result. But we have recently resolved it, so it’s a happy ending.”

Sources told Straus News that the two sides met last week and resolved the complaints, although details weren’t publicly divulged.

Barton said both sides sought to settle their differences.

“It was really a meeting of the minds, and the desire for the business to be successful, and everyone to focus on the growth and success of the business,” he said.

Marks also appears to have found peace with the settlement, telling Straus News that “There was a disagreement with our tenant that was resolved. Happens daily in my business.”

He then went on to give a glowing review about the gym, further indicating that the two men are once again on the same team.

“You should see what they are doing with training. . . . Better story is the future of working out.”

Barton has long been a fixture on the upscale gym scene. From 2004 to 2013, Barton owned a chain of gyms known for their nightclub, house-music aesthetics, one of which was where the Village People filmed their iconic “YMCA” video—in what was once the home of the McBurney YMCA, before it moved to 14th Street.

He sold majority control of his gyms to a company that eventually declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It wasn’t until after the pandemic that Barton decided to resume his reign as a fitness instructor. In late 2022, he opened the 35,000-square-foot Gym U NYC and reclaimed the cultural phenomenon that is 213 W. 23rd St.

“People needed a place to go to work out, do something together and engage in community,” Barton told Straus News. “So this is really like giving something back to the neighborhood where I call my home, Chelsea.”

With the litigation behind him, Barton revealed that he plans to expand his business further throughout the city. He explained that this comeback has been hugely successful, hearing from sources that it’s his best gym yet.

“And I’ve done a lot of pretty spectacular gyms. So in a lot of ways, this is my favorite,” he said. “I wasn’t planning to do more gyms at this stage of my career, but I do plan to do more. I’m looking at two different locations in New York City.”

Barton hasn’t made public where he plans to expand the business, but he sounds confident in the potential and longevity of the euphoric, club-like style of fitness.