💪 She Drafted His Lease. Then She Became His Business Partner.

📉 Queens Renters Are Looking Elsewhere — Here's Why

🏃 Lace Up for Davide: Astoria's Charity 5K Returns July 18

🧘 LIC Turns a Block Into an Outdoor Wellness Playground

You walk into Forte Lab and it doesn't feel like a gym. Not in the commercial sense, anyway. No packed floor where you can't grab a bench. It's 4,000 square feet of open, clean, intentional space. Classes on one side, open gym & PT in the back, a recovery section on the other, and the kind of energy that makes you want to actually show up again tomorrow. This is boutique fitness done right, and it's been quietly building something special in Astoria for three and a half years.

The origin story is one of those only-in-New-York things. Despina is a lawyer. Has been for over a decade. Her now-business partner is a fitness professional, a personal trainer who came to her as a client. His father owned a building on Steinway and wanted to set his son up with a first-floor space to train. But he wanted it done the right way. A real lease. A real LLC. So Despina drafted the paperwork, trained with him after, and sent her friends to train with him too. Years later, after pandemic burnout hit and Despina started exploring the fitness business seriously, she realized the person she'd been looking for was someone she already knew. He'd been trying to expand for two years. She'd been visiting gyms across New York and Florida, trying every intro offer she could find, just for fun, writing her own reviews, not even knowing she'd eventually open her own place. They partnered up, spent over a year building, and opened Forte Lab in 2022. He brought the personal training expertise. She brought the group fitness vision. Together they added recovery.

So what's inside? A diverse class schedule that includes Hyrox training, circuit classes, Pilates, stretch, yoga, and open gym hours starting at 5:00 a.m. for the early risers. On the recovery side, there's a cold plunge, an infrared sauna, and assisted stretch sessions. You can book any of it through the Forte NYC app. If you're nervous about the cold plunge, they offer one-on-one coaching to walk you through breathwork & acclimation. And here's something that sets them apart: the trainers all have 10-plus years of experience. The result? Smaller classes where instructors actually correct your form and technique. Check the Google reviews. That's what people keep coming back to talk about.

For anyone who wants to try it, the intro offer should stop you mid-scroll: two weeks of unlimited classes for $49. That's potentially 10 or more classes for less than the cost of one drop-in at most Manhattan studios.

Forte Lab is actively partnering with local businesses like Olia Greens on 30th Avenue. They're launching campaigns with luxury apartment buildings across Astoria, offering residents special pricing & pop-up classes, think rooftop workouts & free intro sessions right in your building's common space. The community space is known to host weekend workshops like breathwork and sound healing. If you have an idea for the space, they want to hear it.

If your rental listing has been sitting quiet, it's not just you — it's the whole borough. A new report from RentCafe found Queens was the only one of the five boroughs to see renter interest actually decline in the first quarter of 2026, even as the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan all posted gains.

The numbers aren't subtle: a 12% drop in listing availability, a 46% decline in page views, a 44% drop in favorites, and a 43% fall in saved searches, all compared to the same period last year. RentCafe's Rental Engagement Tracker gave Queens a score of 61.94 — 106th out of the 150 largest U.S. cities it tracks.

It's a strange contrast with everything else we've been reporting this year — new towers leasing up in LIC, affordable lotteries drawing thousands of applicants, home prices still climbing in Q2. Renters, apparently, are voting with their clicks, and right now more of them are clicking on listings in Brooklyn and the Bronx instead.

👉 Read more: QNS

New York International FC is putting on its annual 5K for Davide again this Saturday, and if you've never gone, this is the year to show up. The race honors Davide Giri, a 30-year-old Columbia PhD student and one of NYIFC's founding players, who was killed in an unprovoked attack in Morningside Park back in December 2021.

The 5K kicks off at 9 am from CrossFit Dynamix at 36-05 20th Ave, with a warm-up starting at 8:20 outside nearby Forte Lab. Suggested donation is $15, though the club will take whatever you've got, and you can run it in person or log your miles from wherever you are — runners from age 9 to 70 have taken part since the race started in 2022.

Stick around after for the post-race party at Rivercrest on Ditmars Boulevard at 10 am, where NYIFC will screen its own match against Clapton CFC. It's a genuinely sweet morning — part memorial, part neighborhood fun run, all benefiting a food-poverty nonprofit in Davide's name.

👉 Read more: QNS

Mark Aug. 1 down: 44th Drive between Jackson and Thomson avenues in LIC is about to become one giant outdoor gym for the second annual LIC Wellness Fest. Think fitness classes, recovery stations, and an honest-to-goodness urban obstacle course, all free and all outside.

The festival is organized by Hurricane Fitness and Trends Dispensary, running from 10 am to 5 pm. It's a bigger, more ambitious version of last year's debut — organizers are billing it as a full "outdoor wellness destination," not just a pop-up workout class.

It's the latest sign that LIC's fitness and wellness scene keeps expanding past the usual gym memberships — block parties built around movement instead of beer, for once. Bring a mat, bring the kids, bring your skepticism about "urban obstacle courses" and see if it survives contact.

👉 Read more: QNS

Astoria Insider is inviting local businesses and organizations to be featured in its growing community newsletter.

The platform highlights local news, events and community stories, providing businesses with an opportunity to reach a highly engaged local audience and showcase what they offer.

From restaurants and shops to services and community groups, all are encouraged to participate and share their story with readers across the Astoria and surrounding areas. Don’t own a business? That’s ok… Know of one that should be featured?

Those interested in being featured can reach out to learn more about available opportunities and upcoming editions. Click the button below to feature your business or send an email to [email protected] with your business details and we’ll reach out!