A 24 Hour Fitness center will occupy and expand the anchor space for the NoHo Commons retail center in North Hollywood that was formerly occupied by HOWS supermarket, said Eric Reuveni of Los Angeles Commercial Real Estate Group. The lease transaction was a 15-year agreement valued at about $20 million. Cypress Retail Group represented 24 Hour Fitness in the transaction. The deal was made in December but was contingent upon 24 Hour Fitness pulling construction permits, which it did earlier this month, said Reuveni, who represented the landlord. The new tenant has already started construction to expand the 3,600-square-foot second-floor space by about 11,000 square feet. The first floor of the tenant’s space is about 32,000 square feet. The fitness center is expected to open in April. The fitness center will include a full basketball court, a lap pool, a cardio studio and a children’s center. The space had been on the market over the past year after HOWS supermarket decided to closing its location. The listing was marketed to a variety of different potential uses, Reuveni said. HOWS difficulty at the site made the location a hard sell to supermarkets. Young demographic Reuveni added that he suspects 24 Hour Fitness to mesh well with the area. “This seemed to be the best use based on the young demographic that lives in the area, a very health-conscious demographic,” Reuveni said. “This is a prominent shopping area of the NoHo Arts District and this brings the NoHo Commons shopping center to full occupancy rather than having the space that was affected by the loss of a supermarket.” The 65,000-square-foot NoHo Commons retail center is located at 5300 Lankershim Blvd near Chandler Boulevard. The building, owned by Redwood Partners Inc., is part of a mixed-use revitalization project for the area. HOWS market originally moved into the building in 2007 and left in February last year due to slow sales. Reuveni said a unique aspect of the deal is the shift in the tenant’s economic dynamics. “While HOWS was having problems because of the economy, we’re able to bring in 24 Hour Fitness to not only make better use of the space, but also to increase the amount of space that they occupied,” he said.