After 21 years, the UBC Gold’s Gym closed at the end of February following a BC Supreme Court ruling that it failed to clearly express its intention to extend its lease with the landlord, Cressey Development.
According to the decision, UBCGG Leasing Ltd. — the gym's operator — brought the lawsuit against Cressey, with whom they had originally entered into a 10-year lease agreement in 2005. In 2014, six months before the agreement’s expiration, UBCGG exercised an option in the agreement to extend the lease for a further five years. The lease was extended again over the pandemic, with an expiry date set for Feb. 28, 2026.
After much back-and-forth between Cressey and UBCGG, the gym and the landlord found themselves in a “zero hour” hearing on Feb. 27. “The lease in question,” Justice David Crerar wrote in the same-day judgment, “will expire tomorrow.”
In July 2025, UBCGG wrote to Cressey about a flood in the gym and framed the incident in light of how its revenue would be “greatly affected” by the opening of Recreation Centre North.
“While our summers are not as busy, the full impact of the Recreation. Centre won’t be realized until the Fall when students can access [it] for $50 per semester! At that low rate, we simply cannot compete and are anticipating greatly reduced revenues,” the gym wrote Cressey. Cost pressures had also been introduced by what the gym said were “large increases” to Common Area Maintenance (CAM) charges in recent years.
Rec North opened that same July. A third of the project’s $70 million price tag was funded by the AMS, which has collected a “New Recreation Centre Fee” from students since 2017.
UBCGG’s deadline to extend the lease was Aug. 31, 2026. As summer turned to fall, the gym took a heavy financial toll. In its correspondence with Cressey, UBCGG reported that it had secured around 360 new memberships in September 2023 and 2024 — a number that fell to 134 by September 2025.
Cressey argued UBCGG never communicated a clear statement that it would like to renew the lease. “Rather, [they indicated] a desire for further negotiations, with an expectation of concessions in rent or otherwise, if and when the lease is renewed,” Justice Crerar found.
UBCGG told the court their location was the first one in B.C., and it remains the gym’s “flagship” spot in the province. On Saturday, Feb. 28, Gold’s UBC closed its doors.
The Ubyssey reached out to Gold’s Gym for an interview but did not receive a reply.
In a letter posted to social media the following day, UBCGG management thanked patrons for their support and encouraged them to access one of their other locations. The gym stressed that the decision came despite their best efforts, and expressed regret for the short notice.
All patrons were allowed to transfer their membership to any of the other locations. Refunds were only made available for personal training packages and memberships paid in full.
The UBC Gold’s Gym reportedly had 2,000 members at the time of the decision — one of whom was Quinn St. Pierre, a competitive bodybuilder and a patron of Gold’s for the past four years.
In an interview, St. Pierre said the gym had a tight-knit, personal environment. “There was a community of people there that would always show up about the same time, talk to each other, and support each other.”
Financially, the timing of the closure didn’t adversely affect St. Pierre. He said, “it was fine because my payment had been processed a while before” the closure. However, he also said Gold’s management could have dealt with new sign-ups differently. According to him, employees were providing tours “the day before, two days before [closing] for new memberships.”
Despite this, St. Pierre added that Gold’s decision to allow certain memberships to be cancelled was a good one. “Luckily, they didn't say, ‘Hey, if you're on a yearlong contract, you're just getting moved over to this gym.’ Because I think that probably wouldn't have gone over well.”
St. Pierre said it has been hard to find a gym similar to Gold’s near campus. “Nothing has been as good as the Gold’s so far,” he said, noting the UBC area's lack of a gym that “actually caters to people that want to lift a bit more seriously.”
Former employees were also hit by the court’s ruling and subsequent closing of the gym.
Patrons found out about the closure at the same time as employees like Ewan Sloan. The second-year Sauder student had worked for seven months as a front desk associate before being promoted early this year to “corporate relations/community outreach”— a position he held until Gold's closed.
He said employees were not told in advance because, as he understood, management was trying to sort out the issue until the last minute. “They gave up trying, then they told us … [at] the same time they told the members,” he said.
Sloan praised management for their support for employees. “They did what they could; it's business, right?” He said all employees were offered a job at the Gold’s Broadway location. “They explained the details of employment insurance,” he added. “I thought it was very communicative.”
On closing day, the environment was “really, really sad compared to what you would expect from a business closing,” Sloan said.
When asked about the impact of Recreation. North’s opening on Gold’s, he said it would not be “fair” to make it the single cause of Gold’s closing. Sloan said he noticed “a lot fewer” new sign-ups in the fall following Recreation. North’s opening, but he “saw them come back in January.”
“I think at the end of the day, Gold’s had its own target market,” Sloan argued. “People that are super committed to working out, that don't want to wait for machines, that want the gym culture and [who], sometimes, are not UBC students.”
“I think it's a loss that we don't have a private gym on campus anymore,” Sloan added.
Sloan and St. Pierre both said UBC needs a premium gym nearby.
On April 29, Fitness World announced they will be opening a TRAIN location near UBC — their high-end personalized gym experience tailored to people who view weightlifting as a lifestyle.
Cressey’s Commercial Asset Manager Aleksey Nekhoroshev is quoted in a press release saying the firm is “confident that Fitness World is a perfect addition to the commercial offerings at University Marketplace” and will deliver “a much-needed fitness facility to the community as a whole."
The address for the new Fitness World facility is 2155 Allison Road — the same as the former Gold's.
