‘Melt’ Churchgate’s iconic gym winds up after 21 years
‘Melt’ Churchgate’s iconic gym
winds up after 21 years
It comes as a saddenning news for the fitness freaks based in SoBo as the iconic gym ‘Melt’ pulls down its shutters after 21 years.
The closure of one of the most exclusive fitness centers in SoBo at the Cambata Building, located opposite Churchgate station, marks the end of a vibrant 21-year era where the affluent came to break a sweat.
The gym, originally named Qi, was established on June 1, 2002, and later rebranded as Melt in May 2019.
Notwithstanding the significant financial losses, Nitij Arenja, the director of this Olympic standard gym has made the compassionate decision to absorb its loyal housekeeping staff into its sister concern, QI Spine Clinic.
Notably, over the years, Melt has attracted a multitude of influential figures from.Bollywood including renowned personalities as well as senior IPS and IAS officers, bureaucrats from Mantralaya, legal experts, business moguls, and other fitness enthusiasts.
IPS officer Ashok Kamte, who was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra after he laid down his life during the 26/11 attacks, would often frequent Melt. Another patron was the decorated IPS officer Himanshu Roy, who ended his life in 2018 while battling cancer.
Besides senior IPS officers Krishna Prakash, Amitabh Gupta, Vishwas Nangre Patil, and Hari Balaji, retired bureaucrats and solicitors general breaking into a sweat were also a common sight at the establishment. As per Melt’s management, the Chief Justice of India, D Y Chandrachud would also drop in whenever he was in Mumbai.
According to Arenja, the closure is being made since Cambata Trust who were partnering with to run Melt, now the tenant is amicably returning the property to the landlord, i.e., Cambata Trust. There wasn’t any legal fight. Everything was done amicably. We were informed of this development, a couple of days ago. Hence, we are shutting down the business on May 31. The message has been conveyed to all members.
The fitness centre was fully revamped before the lockdown, and expensive machines were brought from Italy to create an Olympic-standard gym for fitness freaks.
However, regardless huge investment, the management could never get a good return as the lockdown was implemented soon following the revamp in 2020.
News input KV Raman
