National chain Life Time Fitness has entered into contract to purchase property at the southeast corner of Memorial and Western will plans to construct the largest fitness center in Oklahoma City.

The 114,000 square foot facility with feature multiple levels with a soaring entry atrium.

Also featured will be an indoor / outdoor pool with 2-story water slides with children's recreation and lap swimming areas. There will be over 400 pieces of exercise equipment plus two regulation basketball courts, several exercise studios, daycare facilities, health foods cafe and a spa.

Large locker rooms with quality materials are also a part of the plans

Life Time is a private company based in Minnesota with approximately 100 centers operating in the U.S. and Canada. Membership fees typically run about $60 per month for an individual.

The location is directly east of the massive Chisholm Creek development.




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Finally!

hopefully more to come; OKC is still a bit of a fitness desert, esp the core.

I might be nuts, but i thought there was a gym up there on Memorial about equally sized that went bankrupt not terribly long ago.

There was a few years ago. Area is much more built up and an emerging commercial area now. I imagine they did considerable site research before picking the area and site.

Wasn't there a plan for a fitness center in Chisholm Creek itself? Is there a possibility that this development will affect that?

Wasn't there a plan for a fitness center in Chisholm Creek itself? Is there a possibility that this development will affect that?

They negotiated with Chisholm Creek but both parties decided they would be better off across the street.

They take a ton of space.

Ahh, so this effectively is that plan, just slightly off the property? I suppose that means more room in Chisholm Creek for other stuff without really losing the fitness concept.

$60? Yikes.

Ahh, so this effectively is that plan, just slightly off the property? I suppose that means more room in Chisholm Creek for other stuff without really losing the fitness concept.

Right.

$60? Yikes.

Worth every dime, IMO

This is bittersweet for me as I LOVE Lifetime Fitness, and was a member when I lived in Phoenix. However, we just outfitted a portion of our garage as a home gym, so I won't be joining but I'm very excited for this development.

Worth every dime, IMO

This is bittersweet for me as I LOVE Lifetime Fitness, and was a member when I lived in Phoenix. However, we just outfitted a portion of our garage as a home gym, so I won't be joining but I'm very excited for this development.

It probably is. It checks nearly all the checkboxes for me (no racquetball court listed), and if I can get insurance/company to bring that price down I'll have a hard time finding a reason to not cancel my anytime fitness and join this gym as opposed to the rock climbing gym that's also being built in this area.

$60? Yikes.

That number is probably a little low, based on what I was paying in Tulsa a few years ago. But in comparison, if every other gym in OKC is about like various levels of municipal golf course, Life Time Fitness is like Pebble Beach. It really is like a high end country club, where the focus is on fitness instead of golf.

I am a cheapskate, but I will gladly lay down whatever they charge to finally have a gym in town that, has everything I need or could ever want (minus racquet ball), is unbelievably well designed and taken care, has so much equipment that there is never a question about rather it'll all be full, etc. They also offer a nice rock climbing area, and over 140 classes a week, in 4 large studios so in peak hours there are always multiple good classes going on.

Pete: Do you know when they plan on starting construction?

They haven't even closed on the property yet; then they have to get their building permits approved.

Best guess is construction will start sometime after the first of the year.

Any more news on this?

Macy's to be demolished (http://www.okctalk.com/content.php?r=352-Macy-s-at-Quail-Springs-Mall-to-be-demolished-massive-Life-Time-Fitness-complex-to-take-its-place)

Permits have been filed to construct a huge new Life Time Fitness center on the site of the old Macy's department store on the north side Quail Springs Mall.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/lifetimequail.jpg


Macy's closed earlier this year as a part of a corporate-wide downsizing and the company sold the building and land to General Growth Properties, the owners of the mall.

As OKCTalk reported in May (http://www.okctalk.com/content.php?r=292-Life-time-Fitness-coming-to-OKC), Life Time had entered into contract to buy property at the southeast corner of Memorial and Western but recently backed out of that deal and put the old Macy's property under contract.

This would be the first and likely only Oklahoma City location for Life Time, a private company based in Minnesota with approximately 100 centers operating in the U.S. and Canada. Membership fees typically run about $60 per month for an individual.

The center would be one of the largest in the country, with 181,400 square feet of enclosed space including indoor tennis courts, 400 pieces of exercise equipment, basketball courts, exercise studios, daycare facilities and two health food areas.

There would also be four outdoor tennis courts, and a huge pool and spa area.

Plans show the building would be detached from the mall with parking positioned between Life Time and a new northwest mall entry.

Construction cost not including furniture, fixtures and equipment is estimated at a whopping $28.5 million.

With the contraction of traditional department stores, enclosed malls have sought new tenants and inventive ways to fill their space and attract patrons. The high concentration of apartments and high incomes in the immediate area fit Life Time's business model.

No closing date has been set for the property sale but building permits have already been submitted.



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I don't like how non-symmetrical that plan makes Quail Springs.

But I suppose that is a minor issue.

Fail

Lifetime Fitness has great amenities! Excellent pools and their equipment is top notch. This will raise the bar for a nice facility in OKC.

This seems like an odd fit.

I don't understand why one of the anchor points of the mall has to be removed?

I don't understand why one of the anchor points of the mall has to be removed?

Yeah it seems a little excessive. It's not like they're short on parking.

I guess if they're expecting the old Macy's to remain vacant for a while, it would be financially sound to just get rid of it...

Then rebuild it? They're planning a new north entrance. I wonder if the plan on expanding the mall somewhere else? Perhaps Dillard's might expand?

I think you guys may be underestimating peak time parking that this place will command.

$60 dollars? I am a Lifetime fitness member here in SA, there are two locations with a third planned, and I pay $100 a month. $60 a month here is more inline with Golds or LA Fitness.

A lot of people are going to start parking near this new mall entrance because its more centralized and closer to AMC. It seems like this will offset any additional parking that will come from demolishing Macy's.

$60 dollars? I am a Lifetime fitness member here in SA, there are two locations with a third planned, and I pay $100 a month. $60 a month here is more inline with Golds or LA Fitness.

I paid $60 ten years ago when I lived in Phoenix, I figured there were different levels.

I think we pay like $130 a month for a family membership here in Tulsa.

$60 dollars? I am a Lifetime fitness member here in SA, there are two locations with a third planned, and I pay $100 a month. $60 a month here is more inline with Golds or LA Fitness.

LA Fitness is $30 a month at most locations.

Life Time Fitness headed to Quail Springs

By: Molly M. Fleming The Journal Record January 6, 2017

OKLAHOMA CITY – Last year started with the announcement that the Macy’s at Quail Springs Mall would be closing. The space was empty by the spring.

In October, mall owner General Growth Properties purchased the Macy’s space and four other empty Macy’s spots in other malls. During the company’s November earnings call, a new tenant was announced.

Minnesota-based Life Time Fitness is seeking a building permit with the city of Oklahoma City to construct a two-story, 181,840-square-foot center near the mall. It would be constructed on vacant land at Quail Springs. GGP Senior Vice President of Investor and Public Relations Kevin Berry said he couldn’t give any other details about the project, but did confirm that Life Time Fitness is coming to the center.

Life Time Fitness centers often include large child care centers, swimming pools, and food courts.

GGP has had success refilling its vacant spaces, according to its earnings presentation. Since 2011, 91 of 95 vacant department stores or boxes have been redeveloped, costing $1.5 billion, but generating an 11-percent return.

Between 2010 and 2015, the malls’ sales per square foot increased 36 percent.

Three fitness companies that are in other GGP centers are 24 Hour Fitness, City Sports, and Family Fitness.

Life Time Fitness Public Relations Director Natalie Bushaw said via email that the Quail Springs Mall center will be a destination not seen in the area before, but she could not give any other information.

Price Edwards & Co. retail broker Jim Parrack said nationwide, having fitness centers as retail center anchors has yet to be proven or unproven as a replacement tenant. The Promenade Mall in Tulsa, where a Macy’s store will close in the coming months, has a fitness center as an anchor.

“It’s no surprise that malls have had a harder time backfilling anchor spaces when they go vacant, so they’ll tend to look at something nontraditional when they go vacant like this,” he said. “It remains to be seen if it will be a net addition to the mall or not.”

But the line between traditional and nontraditional mall tenants is thinning, with some GGP centers also having Sprouts Farmers Market and Wegmans as occupants.

“Tenants – whether they’re restaurants or entertainment – want to be in the best retail locations,” Berry said. “They are not focused on if it’s traditional or not to be in a mall. They just want to be in the best retail locations.”

Parrack said Life Time’s center will be a different type of fitness center than we already have in the city.

“From Life Time’s point of view, (Quail Springs) makes a lot of sense,” he said. “It’s a good location. It’s right in the middle of their market. It’s a huge growth area.”

A much more extensive story about the project by Jack Money with the Oklahoman. Also included is an interview with Bahram Akradi, who is the founder, chairman, and CEO of the company.

http://newsok.com/fitness-business-building-at-quail-springs-mall/article/5534239

I hope this works out for Lifetime and the surrounding community. I'm certain they did their due-diligence, I just personally don't get it. Or, at the very least, it simply doesn't appeal to me at this stage.

I can't picture going to a mall (that I consider to be on life support) to find a higher end fitness center with a pool and tennis courts in the parking lot. Just seems like a really odd mix to me.

But, I know similar concepts have worked in other areas and that part of town is becoming pretty densely populated with homes and businesses. So, those people may find it extremely convenient.

For me personally, I don't like huge expansive gyms and I don't like gyms that cater to kids. This was one of the main reasons we gave up our YMCA membership - we normally went to the downtown main location. It was always full and there seemed to often be kids running around, camped out in the halls or lining the walls in the actual fitness classrooms. We opted for the Mercy facility near our home and a membership at a Edmond boxing gym. For both the Mercy and Boxing membership it only costs me just less than $100/month (per individual). So, $60 month doesn't seem out of line. You can pay a lot less in OKC (and get a lot less in amenities) or you can pay more.

I will be interested to see how this esthetically turns out and if it helps or hurts the overall mall. Maybe in 10 years it will be the Plaza Mayor II, "With a really snazzy country club."

I would think that the anti mall group here would appreciate the starting of redevelopment of QSM. This is a great hedge....to start dismantling the mall starting with the big spaces and keeping the retail area right sized. If done right, the mall could eventually morph into more of a lifestyle area. That square mile will end up being one of, if not the most dense population are in the state.

BBates, I think you'd be surprised with Lifetime. I certainly never felt it was ran over with kids.

And who edits The Oklahoman? What's a "racket court?"

But the line between traditional and nontraditional mall tenants is thinning, with some GGP centers also having Sprouts Farmers Market and Wegmans as occupants.
. . I'd drive for miles to have a Wegmans like the one in Columbia MD. . .but don't think they have ventured off the East coast :(

And who edits The Oklahoman? What's a "racket court?"

Where bookies sit outside the racquetball courts and take bets on the matches?

I'm no expert on development or fitness centers. I love Mercy's on I-35. I'm just thinking that maybe with all that is planned in the area and Edmond, they maybe slowly trying to move to the life style center concept. I wonder if there is any plans for upscale appartments or condo on some of the out lots? If they would slowly reshape the mall and add some amenities, then maybe things will improve for them. I would be guessing that they have a master plan of some sort in mind rather then just trying to fill space.

I think you guys may be underestimating peak time parking that this place will command.

Yeah, I know the center in Tulsa has a pretty massive parking lot that get pretty full at peak times. Plus, I assume they will put a new mall entrance in at this location, so there will be mall traffic to fit with as well.


$60 dollars? I am a Lifetime fitness member here in SA, there are two locations with a third planned, and I pay $100 a month. $60 a month here is more inline with Golds or LA Fitness.

Yeah, no idea where the $60 came from. When I joined in Tulsa back in 2011 it was $75 for an individual and $105 for a couple. They've also raised their rates since then.


I hope this works out for Lifetime and the surrounding community. I'm certain they did their due-diligence, I just personally don't get it. Or, at the very least, it simply doesn't appeal to me at this stage.

I can't picture going to a mall (that I consider to be on life support) to find a higher end fitness center with a pool and tennis courts in the parking lot. Just seems like a really odd mix to me.

But, I know similar concepts have worked in other areas and that part of town is becoming pretty densely populated with homes and businesses. So, those people may find it extremely convenient.

For me personally, I don't like huge expansive gyms and I don't like gyms that cater to kids. This was one of the main reasons we gave up our YMCA membership - we normally went to the downtown main location. It was always full and there seemed to often be kids running around, camped out in the halls or lining the walls in the actual fitness classrooms. We opted for the Mercy facility near our home and a membership at a Edmond boxing gym. For both the Mercy and Boxing membership it only costs me just less than $100/month (per individual). So, $60 month doesn't seem out of line. You can pay a lot less in OKC (and get a lot less in amenities) or you can pay more.

I will be interested to see how this esthetically turns out and if it helps or hurts the overall mall. Maybe in 10 years it will be the Plaza Mayor II, "With a really snazzy country club."

Life time is not over ran by kids by any means. They do have an awesome daycare facility on site. But kids are not allowed in any of the workout areas period. The teenagers that are allowed in the areas are expected to behave like an adult and have seen teens asked to calm down or leave. Absolutely nothing like a Y. Of the three pools, one of the indoor pools is always adult only (lap pool), the other play pool has family and adult only times. The outdoor pool also has a lap area that is adult only. All of the hot tubs are adult only. The adult only rules are enforced, as well. They do have summer camps, though, and the kids generally take over one of the two basketball courts late in the day.

I think Mercy is the nicest gym in the metro right now, but compared to Life Time it would be like comparing Oak Tree to Pebble Beach.

Rendering from the Oklahoman, I think it will look pretty nice when done and not really out of place:

http://cdn2.newsok.biz/cache/r960-7d2952eef1daf39556fd2b4de58e3a81.jpg

From the Oklahoman article:


As part of the project, Akradi said he expects the mall owner, General Growth Properties, to demolish the vacant space — at least on the surface — to remake that portion of the mall into a promenade that would tie the two developments together.

To do that, he said he expects the mall to remake its exterior there to similarly match Life Time's development.

This seems contrary to what we've heard elsewhere, and see in the renderings. The one directly above shows a little strip of landscaping connecting the current NW mall entrance to the Lifetime entrance, but that's hardly what I'd call a promenade and doesn't seem to make any real effort to connect the mall to Lifetime. Also, it's implied that they may keep the former Macy's lower level as an underground retail space. This would not surprise me. At GGP's Parks Mall in Arlington, TX, the former Mervyn's space has a Forever 21 on the lower (underground) level and Barnes and Noble on the upper.

I think even if they don't have any actual plans for the underground space yet, it would be beneficial to keep it and add parking on top rather than raze it and fill it with dirt for a parking lot.

The problem is, I doubt the current structure is strong enough to put a parking lot on top. So it would likely have to be completely rebuilt.

The problem is, I doubt the current structure is strong enough to put a parking lot on top. So it would likely have to be completely rebuilt.

Certainly, but there will already be a basement dug out, so they simply build it out to where it can structurally bear the parking lot on top. And they would likely need a couple emergency stairwell exits on the far end.

The "promenade" is a sidewalk with some landscaping.

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Fair enough, but that's not going to have the effect that he suggests.

If they did it right, you probably wouldn't be able to tell an anchor used to be there and it would seem just like any other outbuilding in a Mall's parking lot at many malls around the country. Considering Life Time attracts ~3000 affluent customers a day, and how close it'll be to the mall (no need to move the car), I am sure it'll have a positive affect on the mall, at least compared to an empty anchor.

IIRC from the last stock report they had as a public company, the average Life Time has between 7,000 and 12,000 members, of which about 80% use the gym at least 3 times a month (insanely high for a gym).

FWIW I happened to drive by the Life Time Fitness in Temple, AZ about 5pm and it was packed. It looked like every parking spot was filled.

FWIW I happened to drive by the Life Time Fitness in Temple, AZ about 5pm and it was packed. It looked like every parking spot was filled.

Yeah, the one in Tulsa is packed everyday after work, and in the summer time it is packed all day on the weekends from people using the pools. I think they are even fairly busy during the day in the summers due to stay at home parents and babysitters taking their kids there for the pools. They also run day camps in the summer time that are huge.

For example though, the Yoga room in Tulsa had a class schedule every 60 minutes from ~4-8pm. There would be 75-100 people in every class. At the same time there would be at least one or two other classes going with completely full rooms of 40-60 people. IIRC, the Tulsa location had ~120 free classes a week. I saw it everyday, and I still couldn't believe it. Meanwhile, LA Fitness in Edmond would get 5-10 people in the handful of classes they had. So there is definitely potential for a lot more traffic to the Quail Area from affluent people.

Parking lot is fenced off. Looks like work is about to start.

Yep, huge area fenced off with construction equipment and construction trailers.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/lifetime061117.jpg

They have started tearing out the parking lot and looks like a construction trailer is on site now. It also looks like they are preparing to close the road behind the mall through that area.

@Pete can you get a copy of the building plans from the permit application? I found the permit (https://access.okc.gov/aca/Cap/CapDetail.aspx?Module=Permits&TabName=Permits&capID1=16BRE&capID2=00000&capID3=09540&agencyCode=OKC&IsToShowInspection=) on the access portal but there are no attachments. Looks like the permit was issued on 5/25, so they aren't wasting anytime.

Looks like the permit to demo Macy's is about to be issued. No attachments on it in the Portal either though :(. https://access.okc.gov/aca/Cap/CapDetail.aspx?Module=Permits&TabName=Permits&capID1=17BRE&capID2=00000&capID3=00476&agencyCode=OKC&IsToShowInspection=

They have started to demolish the old Macy's (taken just now, Saturday AM):

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There must be hazardous material being removed from Macy's. I would have figured it would have been completely demolished by now.

You can see the old Macy's has now been detached from the mall as it continues to slowly come down.

This complex is going to be absolutely massive.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/lifetime100317a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/lifetime100317b.jpg

The first floor of Macy's is gone. Elevator core and stairwells for lifetime going up as well.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/lifetime110817.jpg

Looks like we have a website now: https://www.lifetime.life/life-time-locations/ok-oklahoma-city.html It is saying fall 2018, but the building permit application says they will be completely on 5/1/2018. So I would expect sometime in the summer.

It looks like there will be NO ROCKWALL :'(.

Compared to Tulsa:
Additions - Whirlpools in Locker Rooms, 8 indoor tennis courts, 4 outdoor tennis courts, Split lap/leisure outdoor pool, much larger kids area including their own basketball court, additional yoga room (much needed), Fairly large medical facility area (not sure why they are giving a ton of space to this, but I am sure they think it fits the "heathly way of life" theme), Basketball courts upstairs, looks like a larger indoor leisure pool with more isolated lap area.
Losses - No rockwall (WTF?), No views of indoor pool from upstairs

Based on the Allen, TX location, membership will be for 2 adults will be $149/mo with a year contract or $159/mo monthly. Kids 13 & under are $10/month. Tulsa is $129/mo for two adults, plus $10 for kids. I have a feeling we will be the same as Allen, maybe slightly less.

Considering this is too far away from me to a primary gym, I am pretty bummed about no rockwall, that would've made it easier to justify the price. But I know the wall in Tulsa always had terrible hours.

Now for the pictures:
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