A gym in Kings Park West will close later this spring, but apparently not by choice.
Operating since 2017, Anytime Fitness will shutter at the Twinbrooke Shopping Center in April as the result of a conflict with Federal Realty, which owns the property, gym owner Brian Samuel told FFXnow.
“Not because the business failed. Not because the community didn’t support us,” Samuel said. “But because in the world of commercial real estate renovations, established small businesses sometimes don’t fit the new vision — regardless of their success or community impact.”
A closing date hasn’t been finalized, but the lease will expire after April 8, and Samuel says he intends to “stay open as long as possible” until then.
Samuel claimed that Federal Realty has pushed “a destructive nature of progress” since purchasing the property in 2021, which “has taken its toll on several small businesses.”
He said that Angie’s Restaurant, which closed in 2024 after 23 years in business, was the first domino to fall. That was followed by 30-day eviction notices sent to two other businesses: Mom’s Pet Grooming — next to the former Angie’s space — and TLC Cleaners, which neighbors Anytime Fitness.
Mom’s Pet Grooming, which opened at Twinbrooke in 2019, can now be found at Fairfax Station Square (5616 Ox Road, Unit G).
According to Samuel, he accepted a one-year lease from Federal Realty after negotiations for a longer term that would’ve included a 20% increase in rent “broke down.” However, six months into the new lease, the landlord presented another contract with a 90-day termination clause.
Samuel says he negotiated the terms to require 120 days’ notice. Federal Realty then exercised the clause “just before the December holidays.”
“The [vice president] of leasing explained their position: they could take my space and the neighboring dry cleaners, divide them up and double or triple their revenue,” Samuel said.
Federal Realty announced plans last spring to undertake a nearly year-long “transformation” of the aging shopping center, which was constructed in 1977. The renovation aims to modernize more than two dozen storefronts with new materials, colors and architectural features.
Samuel acknowledged that Federal Realty is within its right as the property owner to do what makes “financial sense for its investors,” but lambasted the landlord for ignoring other factors in when he sees as a pursuit to maximize returns.
“There’s a cost to that calculation that doesn’t appear on spreadsheets — the dissolution of gathering places where real relationships are built, where people support each other through both triumphs and struggles,” Samuel said.
A request for comment sent to a Federal Realty spokesperson was not immediately returned.
As he prepares for the gym’s departure from its current home, Samuel is hoping to reopen Anytime Fitness in a new location in the near future.
“I’m searching for a new location to rebuild what we created at Twinbrooke, though I know it won’t happen before these doors close,” Samuel said. “To every member who became family: you made this dream more than I ever imagined possible. That community isn’t ending — it’s just finding a new home.”
