Spa-like fitness center to open in Syosset
An artist's rendering of the Life Time Fitness facility planned for Syosset. the upscale center is to feature a salon and cafe. (Undated) Credit: Handout
The fitness business on Long Island, already loaded with gyms and workout places, is about to bulk up even further - and it will mean more muscle for the region's economy in terms of jobs.
Minnesota-based Life Time Fitness, one of the largest fitness companies in the country, plans to open its first facility in New York State in Syosset, on about 9 acres off Robbins Lane just north of the Long Island Expressway, early next year.
Karen Jayne Leinberger, a Life Time spokeswoman, said the company expects to hire as many as 385 people for the new facility, including physical trainers, sales managers and even a birthday party coordinator.
Life Time Fitness facilities are, without a doubt, upscale, offering salons, cafes and chiropractic clinics, Leinberger said. "We don't view [other fitness outlets] as our competition," she said. "We're more of a resort-style place. We're not a 'come and work out and leave' type of place."
Long Island could certainly use the jobs, but does it need another gym? There are about a dozen Gold's Gym locations on the Island, according to Gold's websites. In the Melville area alone, L.A. Fitness is on Route 110 in Farmingdale, and Planet Fitness and the Eastern Athletic Club are both on Ruland Road. Many downtowns feature storefront fitness places as well.
"It's very competitive already," Marc Sferrazza, an owner of Eastern Athletic, which also has facilities in Blue Point and Dix Hills, said of the industry on the Island. "We've already probably reached the saturation point."
But Life Time Fitness, which has 90 facilities in 19 states, seeks an upscale cliental, which is why it choose the Syosset site owned by the Blumenfeld Development Group of Syosset. EdBlumenfeld, the president, said the site has been leased to Life Time Fitness for 50 years. He described the facility as "a country club."
The new Life Time facility may shove aside some other fitness outlets on the Island. But Sferrazza chose to take an upbeat view. The industry in the past has suffered when some fitness places disappeared practically overnight with members' money.
The facilities all offer a variety of membership packages. Leinberger said Life Time Fitness has not yet established prices for the Syosset club.
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