Exercise club chain 24 Hour Fitness will build a swanky new facility to replace its oldest location on Fourth Plain Road, a move designed to retain and increase membership. “24 Hour Fitness has signed a lease to relocate … for our loyal members, as well as prospective new members,” said Peter Berkowitz, the company’s vice president of real estate and strategy.
The new 45,000-square-foot club will be in the $18 million Palms Plaza retail development, set to break ground this month on the southwest corner of Fourth Plain Boulevard and 131st Avenue. It will replace a smaller 24 Hour Fitness location in Evergreen Plaza at Fourth Plain and 117th Avenue. “They will have room for basketball, a swimming pool, a kids club and a larger work-out area,” said Mike Jenkins, of MAJ Holdings LLC, the project’s developer.
Jenkins said Palms Plaza will include two smaller retail buildings, instead of three outlined in original plans. The project’s 8-acre site is just west of the Milwaukie Lumber Co. retail store and about 10 blocks west of a site long proposed for a new Wal-Mart Supercenter store.
Headquartered in San Ramon, Calif., 24 Hour Fitness operates in 400 locations throughout the U.S. It is building a new gym on Andresen Road and also operates from an east Vancouver facility in Columbia Tech Center .
By Cami Joner
The Columbian – August 18, 2007