The South Shore Athletic Club is closing April 1. A Christian school will take its place.
The South Shore Athletic Club in Cudahy is closing April 1.
Victory Christian Academy will lease the space at 3244 E. College Ave. after Cudahy’s common council approved a rezoning request with a 4-0 vote on March 21, according to City Administrator Casey Griffiths.
The rezone changes two parcels on the site to institutional zoning, allowing the private school to operate. VCA currently operates out of two campuses, one at 2840 S. 10th St. in Milwaukee for K4 -4th grade and the other at 6021 W. Lincoln Ave. in West Allis for 5th-12th grades.
The Cudahy location, which will begin operations for the 2023-24 school year, will offer classes for middle and high school students, according to Jennifer Lasik, principal of VCA. She said the new location will allow the school to expand its athletics programming, increase the STEM curriculum and agricultural coursework and launch preparatory courses for the skilled trades.
CEO of SSAC and property owner Omer Yazganoglu said he’d been working over 80 hours per week and put “so much money into SSAC.”
“I focused more on improving and building SSAC,” he said. “VCA made a good offer, and they have strong value and structure in what they do, so I could not decline their proposal.”
Yazganoglu said it was rewarding to build lasting relationships with members and staff, but the day pass clients made running SSAC difficult along with trying to address everyone’s wants and needs.
“I had always wanted to have a club, exclusive to members, but since almost half of our revenue came from day passes it was impossible to remove them, even though I wish we could have,” Yazganoglu said.
The South Shore Athletic Club had about 2,000 members, according to Yazganoglu. Members won’t be charged past March and any members who paid for memberships in advance will be refunded to their original payment method, according to a post on the SSAC Facebook page.
Members must have their lockers cleared out by March 31.
“Thank you to everyone who supported me in my journey and ultimately my decision,” Yazganoglu said. “I wish you all the best in life and hopefully we’ll meet again soon.”
Contact Erik S. Hanley at erik.hanley@jrn.com. Like/follow his Facebook page, The Redheadliner, and follow him on Twitter @ES_Hanley.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: South Shore Athletic Club in Cudahy to permanently close in April 2023
