Colorado Springs 24 Hour Fitness location closing its doors this month
May 5—A 24 Hour Fitness in northern Colorado Springs, which withstood the company's bankruptcy three years ago and the demolition and rebuilding of a shopping center where the gym has operated for a quarter century, is shutting its doors.
The location at 3650 Austin Bluffs Parkway, in the Marketplace at Austin Bluffs northwest of Austin Bluffs and Academy Boulevard, will close May 15, according to a sign posted on its door.
24 Hour Fitness representatives did not respond to calls to the company's California corporate headquarters seeking comment about why the location was closing. A call to a media hotline number also didn't produce a response.
Representatives of AmCap, a Connecticut-based real estate company that owns the Marketplace at Austin Bluffs, also didn't respond to calls.
"We're sad to say that, due to a combination of circumstances, our Colorado Springs club will be permanently closing on May 15, 2023," the sign on the door of 24 Hour Fitness said. "We love serving you and want to keep you as a member!"
The sign advised members to speak with employees "about our latest offers and membership options. We can restart your membership at any 24 Hour Fitness location that may be convenient to work or home."
24 Hour Fitness continues to operate at 1892 Southgate Road in the Broadmoor Towne Center on Colorado Springs' south side.
Whether members are eligible for refunds because of the closing of the Austin Bluff Parkway location wasn't known. Also unknown was how many employees work at the location and their status.
In June 2020, the 24 Hour Fitness chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed more than 130 gyms nationwide. Those closings included one at 7720 N. Academy Blvd. in Colorado Springs and a dozen in the Denver area, Fort Collins and Greeley.
The bankruptcy and closings took place three months into the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and 24 Hour Fitness cited financial fallout from the pandemic for its bankruptcy filing. During those initial months, gyms were among nonessential businesses, along with restaurants and bars, that were ordered temporarily closed in Colorado.
24 Hour Fitness wasn't the only chain that closed locations at the time; Gold's Gym shuttered all three of its Springs-area centers in April 2020, also citing financial troubles because of the pandemic.
The 24 Hour Fitness location at the Marketplace at Austin Bluffs opened in August 1998 and occupied a roughly 44,000-square-foot space, according to Gazette archives.
At the time, the shopping center was a mini indoor mall known as Mall of the Bluffs, and later was rebranded as the Shops at the Bluffs.
In 2006, new owners embarked on a makeover of the dying retail center, which had lost many of its tenants. Most of it was torn down and rebuilt; 24 Hour Fitness, however, remained in its original building on the shopping center's north side.
