Blending old-world New York with the city’s modern wellness crowd, Moss is NYC’s newest members-only club. ATN caught up with co-founder Colleen Brooks to learn more
New York was always going to turn wellness into real estate. The city can take any lifestyle trend and call it a destination, but until now, it’s mostly carved the experience into pieces: a spa here, a fitness temple there, a social wellness club somewhere in between. The only surprise is that it took this long for someone to put it all under one roof.
Until now.
Moss, a new private members club at 520 Fifth Avenue, is the rare attempt to braid all of it together, offering New Yorkers a place to exhale and, inevitably, to see and be seen.
At first glance, Moss looks like the latest entrant in the city’s bevy of private clubs, but it’s chasing a different identity as a five-story sanctuary built on the trifecta of modern New York: hospitality, the arts and the pursuit of wellness, a place where members can drift between an art show and an IV drip.
Behind Moss are founders Colleen and Hailey Brooks, sisters who teamed with design firm Charles & Co to bring the idea to life. It begins upstairs, perched above Fifth Avenue, with two floors of dining and social spaces available exclusively for members and led by Chef Angela Zeng. Below that, a third-floor Symposium serves as Moss’ cultural epicenter, a space meant to enrich the mind and support creativity with a podcast studio, vinyl listening lounge, cocktail bar and lounge, a billiards and games room and five private dining rooms.
“The Symposium is the largest room in our club and serves as the vibrant heart of our Intelligent Leisure programming,” Brooks tells Athletech News. “Taking inspiration from historic gatherings like the Algonquin Round Table, it is designed as a place for members to come together, whether for impromptu conversations during the day or a wide range of formal programming in the evenings.”
Brooks says the space will host speaker series, movie nights, intimate performances, supper clubs and salon-style conversations, as well as showcase Moss’ favorite curator-led rotating art exhibitions.
At a recent sneak peek, “Sex and the City” creator Candace Bushnell was among the guests drifting through the space, a fitting cameo for a club built on the rituals of modern Manhattan life.
The two lower levels house Bedrock Aquatics and Athletics, a dedicated space for fitness, spa therapy and longevity services with Pilates and fitness studios, a dual-bay golf swing suite, personalized training and a full pickleball court that can transform into a basketball half-court. The Bedrock also offers daily Collective Training classes ranging from mat Pilates, yoga and strength and conditioning.
True to its name, Bedrock sits on the lower level, yet it reflects the equal weight Moss gives its two pillars, which Brooks describes as “Intelligent Leisure” and “Physical Culture.”
“With Bedrock Aquatics and Athletics, we didn’t view the gym as a utility but as an extension of our clubhouse,” Brooks said, adding that the design aesthetic, complete with rich fabrics and warm finishes, makes it feel like a home away from home.
“There truly is no other gym like it,” she said.
For the most wellness-dedicated, there are opportunities for IV therapy, aesthetic treatments, spa and massage studios for facials, bodywork and grooming, a hammam, steam room, sauna, three thermal pools, rain showers and recovery zones.
Membership requires an application, including a headshot, which Moss notes is used to verify identity. Pricing is divided into three tiers: Local, Under 30 and Out of Town, with monthly dues ranging from $295 to $745 and joining fees running $1,500 to $3,950. Members can choose between access to the dining and cultural floors on levels two and three or full entry to Bedrock Aquatics and Athletics on the lower levels. To qualify for an Out of Town membership, applicants must live 80+ miles from Moss and proof of residency is required.
When asked whether other locations are in the pipeline, Brooks gives the kind of careful answer that suggests ambition but not haste.
“Right now, we are fully immersed in the launch of the inaugural Fifth Avenue location, but are always dreaming of the future,” she said.
