Joseph Melnick lives in Cape Elizabeth.
When I opened up my emails a few nights ago, I was sad to read that the Bay Club at One City Center would be closing its doors on June 1 because of an inability to come to terms with the building owner for a new lease.
To those of you who are unfamiliar with the Bay Club, it is a physical fitness facility that in addition to housing the usual exercise equipment also offers a large variety of classes such as yoga, pilates and many more.
For over 35 years I have been going regularly at 6:30 a.m. for my workout. During COVID, the Bay Club lost nearly half of its members as people began working from home. Despite the loss of membership, the Bay Club owner did not increase rates and kept the doors open.
The Bay Club is much more than an exercise facility. It’s a place that supports connection and community. Members come from all walks of life and all sizes and shapes. If a member is absent for a few days, it is noticed and someone will contact them. Many know and inquire about my sprained knee, how my house search is going or simply laugh at my silly T-shirt. We exchange books and opinions on politics, the Celtics and the latest movies.
But the connections go beyond the members. They include the front desk staff and the personal trainers, some of whom have been there for many years, and will lose their jobs. I know about their lives, and they about mine.
Like many others, after a workout, I will grab a cup of coffee at the Dunkin’ Donuts, go across the street for a bagel or wander over to Longfellow Books to find something interesting to read. I sometimes go alone, sometimes with others. I smile as I see friendships form and relationships develop. And just as I feel a connection to my early morning cohort, I know that these soft connections are occurring many times throughout the day.
When I and others became aware that the lease was expiring and that negotiations were underway for a new one, we wrote emails to the building manager wanting him to know that the Bay Club was more than just a business but rather a community resource in which relationships across gender, age and occupation were developed and nurtured. His response was a polite paragraph that said little of substance.
When I asked the Bay Club’s owner about the negotiations, I was told that the building owner’s new lease demands would have forced an increase of more than double the membership rate for the club to stay in business, assuming that most, if not all would stay. As the information spread, some members even formed a committee to try to negotiate between the Bay Club and the owner. Little progress was made.
I was puzzled. If you go inside One City Center you will find lots of empty office space, some unoccupied for many years. I’ve been told that a number of current tenants have also spoken to the owner, all to no avail.
I’m not sure what, if anything to do. I fantasize that if the building owner and manager spent some time observing the members interacting as they increase their physical and mental health, they would soften their stance. The angry part of me wants to ask everyone I know to boycott the building. But the more rational part of me wants people to return to the Center, for I love this city.
It just saddens me that some put profit ahead of people.
