Private Equity-owned Companies in Times Square 

144 W 38^th St . ; 555 W 42^nd St.

Private equity owner: Angelo, Gordon & Co.

Owned by private equity since: 2005

Deal value: $45 million

Employees: n/a

Buyout firms seem to want to play the role of personal trainer to troubled fitness clubs – whipping them into shape to make a tight profit. The trend has led to private equity buyouts of New York Sports Club, Equinox, and Crunch Fitness. Formerly a division of Bally Total Fitness, Crunch helps 100,000 members work up a sweat at 30 gyms in New York, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Atlanta. It caters to up-market gym rats and markets classes with names like ‘Stiletto Strength’ and ‘Cardio Striptease.’” Buyout firm Angelo, Gordon teamed up with Marc Tascher, the co-founder of rival Town Sports International (parent of NYSC) to take Crunch private in 2005 for $45 million. Little information is publicly available about the buyout and the inner-workings of Crunch. Employees wouldn’t talk either. The rapid growth of the buyout industry and the corresponding decrease in public information about the companies it owns is one of the reasons concerns are being raised that workers and communities are getting “crunched” in the buyout boom.