Nearly 19 years after club kid Michael Alig famously murdered Angel Melendez, their old haunt the Limelight on 20th Street and Sixth Avenue has been transformed once again — this time, into a David Barton Gym.
The site, originally an Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion, has housed a number of different ventures, including a drug rehabilitation program, the Limelight and Avalon clubs from 1983 until 2007 and the Limelight Marketplace, complete with a Grimaldi’s pizzeria, from 2010 until May 2014.
Michael Alig was a regular attendee of the Limelight night club (pictured) before killing fellow club kid Angel Melendez. The Limelight is now a gym.Chad RachmanThe gym retains many of the building’s original churchlike features, including the still-functioning bell tower, Tiffany stained glass windows, Roman chandeliers imported from Italy, a nun’s chapel, votive candles on the weight-room floor — to “honor the fitness gods,” naturally — and a sanctuary to be used for yoga and spin classes.
The David Barton Gym at the Limelight location also offers specialty classes that pay homage to the Church motif, including “Core Communion,” “Divine Abs,” “Muscle Mass” and “Salvation,” a full-body cardio workout.
This is the fourth David Barton Gym to open in the city. The gym’s other locations include Astor Place, Christopher Street and 85th Street and Madison Avenue.
