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SC's Secret Weapon

 

Meet the man behind SoulCycle's new Tribeca location:  Peter Bryant.   Peter discusses his relationship with SoulCycle, the highs and lows of building Tribeca, and designing the new band studio.   

 

 

SC:  Maybe you could start by explaining what your job entails.

PB:   I have a design, construction and real estate background so I started a business where I specialize in helping clients expand their brand from one or two locations to multiple locations across the country.  With that comes sourcing real estate, negotiating leases with landlords, helping them design the space and managing the construction project.

SC:  So you’re involved from the leasing of the space through the end of construction.   Maybe the better question is, “What don’t you do?”

PB:  When I first met Elizabeth and Julie they were embarking on a major growth phase, but they were still perceived as a small brand.  I got them the initial meetings with the owner of the Tribeca property, which was a large billion dollar building with national tenants.  I gave the landlord confidence that this is a good business, that it will generate revenue, that they’ll be good tenants.  At the same time I had to get terms that were within the budget that they could afford based on the revenue that they could expect from the studio. 

SC:  Would you say that’s pretty unusual to be involved in both the real estate side and the construction side? 

PB:  I'd say it's unusual for a single person to be involved in the construction and design, but that's what I founded my company on. 

SC:  What's the benefit of being involved in every step along the way?

PB:  Consistency.  There’s a lot of waste when things aren’t coordinated.  A lot of times the design team doesn’t know that there are certain conditions from the landlord and they’ll design the wrong system.  Because I do both, I can help Elizabeth and Julie establish a budget and make sure that I design to that budget.   When I start construction, I’m able to tell them there aren’t going to be any change orders because our team knows the design inside and out.

SC:  For Tribeca, did you have to work with a preexisting space or did you start from scratch?   

PB:  We got what they call a cold dark shell.  It was concrete and that’s it.  No mezzanine, no lights, no power, no water.  We had to bring all those services and design and build the whole space. 

SC:  The new studio is visually impressive from the moment you walk in.  Is there anything design-wise that may not be obvious to someone seeing the studio for the first time? 

 PB:  The sound-proofing.  It’s a residential building, so we needed really good soundproofing in that space.  In addition to that, we designed the height of the platform in the back row.  When you get to that fourth row it’s sort of hard to see the instructor, so we came up the idea of raising that back row, so they could get a better view of the instructor.  We had done that on the Upper East Side so we added it downtown as well.  

SC:  Were there special requirements for the band studio? 

PB:  Yes.  We had to come up with the mechanism, so that they’re flexible but still locked in.  Elizabeth and Julie tell me what their desire is and I –  based on my design and construction background –  come up with a strong system that’s commercially available.

SC:  What was the most stressful moment in the process of building Tribeca? 

PB:  There were some moments when we had to make changes.  I want to build their clubs with zero change orders, so the stress becomes trying to convince the subcontractors to do this work at no additional cost.  It was also stressful to do the work in the daytime, nighttime and on the weekends without disturbing the residents. 

SC:  What was the best moment in the process of building? 

PB:  If I had to say one thing, it would be putting the band studio together.  There’s an exercise that’s on the cutting-edge, it’s never been done before.  We really created something in there through a collaboration of Elizabeth, Julie, myself and some of the instructors.  So watching that whole studio come together to completion and then watching the whole class take place when the Today show was filming, it was unbelievably rewarding for me. 

SC:  Do you feel like SC is different than other clients you’ve had? 

PB:  They're more in tune with their members.  They are so responsive to their riders needs because they experience their own business.  Each month is better than the last for the customer.  They're constantly on the cutting-edge and pushing their brand and business forward.  They treat their employees well and they’re just soulful people.  

SC: Where would you like to go from here? 

PB:  I’d like to stay with smaller businesses.  That’s the motivation for me.  It’s really inspirational to take a business from one location to ten. To take a business from 80 locations to 90, that’s when it becomes a bit of a rubber stamp and that’s not as satisfying.  It’s so much more creative to be there at the beginning because then you’re helping them create a brand.  My responsibility is the branding of the facility, but you’re also creating the member experience – the experience at the front desk, the experience that they have with the instructor.  We’re all doing it together, creatively and organically.  To be able to take care of the facility side while the owners brand their business, it’s a great collaboration.  And that’s what I have going on with SoulCycle and I love it.

Posted January 28, 10