500 signatures reached
To: Josh Harris, founder of 26North Partners and owner of the Washington Commanders, and Ori Gorfine, CEO of Onelife Fitness
Save Neighborhood Gym Crunch!
This campaign has ended.
Crunch Fitness at 5100 Wisconsin Ave NW — open for 15 years, beloved by 1,200 members — is being closed by Onelife Fitness on April 15 with less than 30 days notice. Even the gym's own manager didn't know until corporate representatives arrived unannounced to deliver the news.
This is not a story of a struggling gym. Crunch has approximately 1,200 members, consistently receives the highest ratings in the Onelife network for friendliness and cleanliness, and continues to attract new members. Onelife is closing it anyway — not because it is failing, but because a smaller gym no longer fits their corporate growth model.
The building's owner, Donohoe, wants a gym in this space and has offered reduced rent. The Friendship Heights Alliance supports keeping a gym here. The community is organized and fighting.
We are asking Onelife and 26North Partners to reverse this decision — or at minimum grant a 180-day extension through October 15, 2026 to allow the community to find a solution. We are also asking Donohoe to bring the full weight of their investment in this neighborhood to bear in finding a new operator.
Why is this important?
Places like Crunch are vanishing from American life. Researchers call them "third places" — not home, not work, but neighborhood anchors where people of many different backgrounds come together, find community, and banish loneliness. When a private equity firm decides a small community gym no longer fits its growth model, something irreplaceable is lost.
This Crunch works precisely because of its intimacy and scale. You know the staff. You know your classmates. As one member put it: "I used to never go to the gym — but once my kids were grown, I found myself needing a place to gather, to see people, to feel part of something. Now I go six days a week. This place is not just about physical health, but it's mental and emotional health."
The things that make this Crunch not fit Onelife's corporate model — its intimacy, its neighborhood feel, its scale — are precisely what make it irreplaceable to us.
IMPORTANT: If you want to stay connected and receive updates, please sign up at savecrunchdc.org or email [email protected]. We don't want to lose touch with you!
How it will be delivered
We will deliver this petition directly to Onelife Fitness CEO Ori Gorfine and 26North Partners founder Josh Harris as part of our ongoing campaign to save this beloved neighborhood gym. Follow our progress at savecrunchdc.org and on Instagram @savecrunchdc. #SaveCrunchDC