It was 2005. I was dating a musician in New York the year The Hit Factory shuttered its doors. His continuous ranting about its demise was so voluminous that it still plays in my ears.

“New York is over. This city is dead. I’m going to kill myself,” he stated. Again. And again. And again. I nodded supportingly, not fully-understanding the gravity of his words, while sneaking a peak at a lovely Alberta Ferretti dress in W Magazine.

This videocast was initially geared toward the changes occurring in the neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen, but as we were filming I was given the opportunity to go into the nearly-completed Hit Factory condominiums.

The experience was somewhat surreal — musical greats like John Lennon, Santana and Stevie Wonder (to name but a mere few) recorded in the space that now holds sub-zero refrigerators and granite kitchen countertops. New York City real estate.

The actual apartments–we saw a few of them–are quite beautiful; light and airy, with a loft-like downtown feel.

When you first walk into the building, there’s a fitness center to the left (I noted the “gym” to my videographer so that he could grab some footage of it) but was quickly told by one of the men on site that this was no gym; this was a “fitness center.”

Yup. That’s how it’s rolling at the Hit Factory these days.