Vida Fitness at 1612 U St. NW
As a Vida Member, I’ve gone into their flagship facility at 1612 U Street NW numerous times, and every single time I’ve walked in, I’ve wondered what the history of this humongous building is between 16th and 17th St. NW. Walking in, you could tell the bones of the building were old, but when I asked around, no one seemed to have an answer for me about the history of the building. So of course, I did some digging.
From Wikimedia Commons
1612 U Street NW began its life in 1921, designed by Appleton P. Clark Jr. and constructed by the Boyle-Robertson Construction Company for the American Motor Schools. It looks like the lot itself was consolidated together from 5 other lots on the block before being built.
Image courtesy of Office of the Surveyor Land Record Management System
Suprisingly, the American Motor Schools turned around in 1923 to sell the building to Harry B Leary who is turn in 1948 transfered ownership to the H. B. Leary Jr. & Bros Inc., a Chrysler dealership. The Building stayed in the Leary family for a good while. I don’t know when the dealership itself closed.
Fast forward a few decades, and the E.B. Adams Co. leased out the building. E.B. Adams Co. specialized in supplying restaurants with dining utensils and plates, bowls, etc. If you google their name, the first thing you’ll see is a bunch of eBay posts of people reselling their E.B. Adams silverware.
Anyways, in 1995, David Von Storch, a DC-based entrepreneur, signed a lease-to-own agreement for the building with the vision of creating a gay-oriented community space that was filled with gay-friendly businesses. In the early 90s, the United States was still dealing with the stigma against gay and HIV-positive people as a fallout of the country’s botched response to the AIDS Epidemic, and Von Storch wanted to create a workout space that catered to gay people who were being shunned in mass from other gyms in the area. The Washington City Paper has a great play-by-play of what all happened in the early years of Von Storch’s ownership.
By 2005, Von Storch finally buys the building outright for $5.8 million, and he was ready to finally launch his vision for the space. In the decade since first signing the lease, Von Storch had started Vida Fitness with the first gym opening in the Verizon Center (now Capital One Arena). Sometime around 2011 (according to Google Streetview archives), Von Storch overhauled the 1612 U Street NW space, building an extension onto the building where a garage ramp used to be and adding a rooftop pool to the space. The Bang Salon remained there while everything else was cleared out for Von Storch’s flagship Vida Fitness.
Also, for added benefit, it appears that Von Storch produced his own reality show in 2010. See below for the trailer.
If you have any other tidbits of information to add, please let me know either in the comments or via email!
Sources:
https://www.borderstan.com/2011/02/21/results-on-u-closing-after-15-years-vida-plans-13-million-renovation/