Private Equity-owned Companies in Times Square 

230 W 41^st St.; 1601 Broadway; 1657 Broadway

Private equity owners: Bruckman, Rosser, Sherrill; Farallon Capital Management

Owned by private equity since: 1996

Deal value: $15 million

Employees: 8,600 (including 5,600 part-time)

You ever wonder who benefits from your gym fees when you go months between spin classes? If you’re one of the 453,000 members of Town Sports International’s clubs—including the New York, Boston. and Washington Sports Clubs—it goes to a group of well-off private equity firms. In 1996, Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill joined up with Farallon Capital Partners and Canterbury Mezzanine Capital to buy Town Sports. In 2002, Bruckmann tried to sell the chain for $600 million. The sum would have provided a healthy return, but nobody took them up on it. In subsequent years, buyers remained hard to come by: in 2005, an offer from firms including Bain Capital and Spectrum Equity was deemed too low for Bruckmann’s taste, and a 2006 offer from UK-based BC Partners for $650 million never came to fruition. Despite the setbacks, the firms have succeeded in putting some muscle on their holdings: a 2005 stock offering was valued at $175 million, over 1000% return on investment. The private equity firms maintain their holdings in the company, leaving open the possibility they will cash-out in the future.