Planet Fitness has leased a 16,000-square-foot space at Twin City Shopping Center in Jersey City, a deal that brings the grocery-anchored property to full occupancy. The gym chain is moving into a shopping center that sits at the intersection of Garfield Avenue/Broadway and 53rd Street, right on the Jersey City/Bayonne border.
The lease was arranged on behalf of property ownership by E.J. Moawad, senior leasing representative for Levin Management Corp., which serves as leasing and managing agent for the center. Jack Chera of RIPCO Real Estate LLC represented Planet Fitness in the transaction. Moawad called Planet Fitness a strong addition and a great fit for the neighborhood property, according to the report, adding that Levin Management has been focused on strengthening the tenant mix with established operators and community-serving uses.
Twin City Shopping Center spans roughly 95,000 square feet, per the New York Real Estate Journal, though Levin Management's property listing puts the figure at 95,299 square feet. The center sits just off Exit 14A of the New Jersey Turnpike, a location that helps it draw more than 2.8 million visits annually, according to placer.ai data cited in Levin Management's materials, with more than 187,000 people living within a three-mile radius.
Fresh Tenants and a Facelift
Planet Fitness joins a lineup of recent additions at the center, including PB Club — Jersey City's first dedicated indoor pickleball facility — along with children's play concept Catch Air and Sakura Teriyaki. The Saposhs, who run PB Club, plan to open three more Hudson County locations over the next 18 months, the property manager's press materials note.
The shopping center has also undergone a round of physical upgrades, including façade and stonework improvements, sidewalk work, LED site lighting, new pylon signage, fencing, landscaping and Tesla EV chargers. Existing tenants at Twin City include Aqui Market, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Dunkin'.
A Familiar Address for Budget Gyms
The Garfield Avenue address has hosted a low-cost fitness tenant before: Retro Fitness opened a 16,000-square-foot location at the same shopping center back in December 2015, according to a report from caryl.com. It is not clear from available records whether that earlier gym remains in operation at the site.
Levin Management has been active in signing Planet Fitness across its New Jersey portfolio, having completed several leases with the fitness brand across its managed properties in recent years. The firm also arranged a 27,000-square-foot Planet Fitness lease at Aldrich Plaza in Howell last November — a deal that, according to NJ.com, marked the third Planet Fitness location the firm brought to its New Jersey portfolio in 2025. Levin Management has separately secured Planet Fitness commitments of 21,850 square feet at Blue Star Shopping Center in Watchung and 15,500 square feet at Middlesex Corner in Middlesex, saying fitness concepts remain significant traffic drivers for shopping centers.
Separate Jersey City Plans Remain Unclear
A separate report from Hoboken Girl had previously described plans for a first Jersey City Planet Fitness location at 321 Route 440, in a former National Wholesale Liquidators property, describing a gym of up to 21,000 square feet — a different size and address than the Twin City lease. It is not clear from available records how that earlier proposal relates to the Twin City deal or whether it remains active.
The expansion fits a broader growth pattern for the chain. Planet Fitness opened 181 new locations in 2025, pushing its global footprint to nearly 2,900 clubs and total membership to roughly 20.8 million, according to a report from athletechnews.com, which also noted the company posted a 6.7% increase in same-club sales for the year. Rival low-cost chains have been expanding too: Crunch Fitness now counts more than 500 locations and three million members worldwide, while EōS Fitness acquired 23 Gold's Gym locations in Southern California in 2025, per the same report.
