Pickleball courts, pools and a cafe proposed by high-end gym for its second Cary site
Fitness gurus and everyone in-between could have another gym option in Cary’s Alston Town Center.
Life Time Fitness has submitted plans to open a two-story facility in the northwest part of town.
The area is close to the Apple’s future $552 million campus in Research Triangle Park, which might open in two years.
The nearly 93,000-square-foot gym will be off N.C. 55, where the town center is located. Other retail stores in the area are Whole Foods, AT&T, La Farm Bakery and Moe’s Southwest Grill.
Life Time Fitness, founded in 1992, is a luxury gym with more than 1.5 million members.
This center would be the second location in the town. Four municipalities in North Carolina have a Life Time Fitness club — Raleigh, Charlotte, Apex and Cary’s Regency Parkway.
What does the gym plan?
Site plans say the entire project will cost $36.5 million on 37.29 acres of land inside Alston Town Center. Construction will include 480 parking spaces, a lesson pool, a lap pool, two warm spas and two cold spas.
The gym will include a Life Cafe, a Life Spa and a large basketball court that can transform into three indoor pickleball courts. Life Spas offer full salon services like manicures, pedicures and massages.
Outside, site plans include a 60,000-square-foot outdoor pool deck with outdoor dining and six pickleball courts. A 2,300-square-foot enclosed play space for children is included.
What’s next?
The town’s planning department is reviewing all of the preliminary plans for the gym. There is no exact estimate for when Life Time will build and open the location.
Alston Town Center could also get a new hotel from Raleigh-based developer Parks Hospitality Group. The company wants to construct a dual-branded Homewood Suites by Hilton and Hampton Inn in the area.
A second location of Hawaiian poké bowl restaurant The Poké Republic could also set up in the town center.
Fitness centers and gyms were among many businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, losing tens of thousands of members. But new attractions such as pickleball courts and personal training programs have helped Life Time regain its affluent customer base, according to a report by CNBC.
The cost to run the fitness center rose 8.2% last year to $319.4 million.
In recent years, Life Time increased membership prices, even closing some centers that could not recover from pandemic losses. In an October statement, CEO Bahram Akradi said the group could increase member prices over the next six to 12 months.
Membership prices at the current Cary Life Time location start at $179 a month.
