Local fitness club changes hands

Lynmar Racquet & Health Club, a part of the local fitness industry for more than 30 years, is in new hands - and its fate is up in the air.

Lynmar's members received a letter this month announcing that Life Time Fitness, the Minnesota-based operator of 79 high-end fitness centers, had taken over Lynmar's operations. El Paso County tax assessor records show LTF Real Estate Company Inc., a subsidiary of Life Time Fitness, bought the property for $2,150,000 early this month after it went into foreclosure last year.

Life Time Fitness is building a 180,000-square-foot facility on the north side of Colorado Springs, scheduled to open next summer near Powers Boulevard and Briargate Parkway.

When it does, "we plan to transition all of Lynmar's current services to the new location," the letter to members says.

Lynmar General Manager Tony Palazzari declined to comment. But Jason Thunstrom, a spokesman for Life Time Fitness, confirmed the purchase of Lynmar and the plans to transition members and services to the new location.

Lynmar, 2660 Vickers Drive, was built in 1974 as a tennis-only facility and added its racquetball complex in the '80s, according to Lynmar's Web site.

In 2001, Colorado Springs businesswoman Rosemarie Lamont bought the 90,000-square-foot center from the partnership that started the club for $4.2 million. At that time, the club had about 4,000 members; Thunstrom would not disclose current membership figures.

In addition to nine tennis courts and five racquetball courts, the club has a pool, fitness center and restaurant and lounge.

Officials haven't decided what will happen to Lynmar once the new center opens, Thunstrom said.

"There are a couple of scenarios there," he said Monday. "One, obviously, is closure. Another one might be operating or offering some level of service at the facility."

It is not known how membership costs at the new center will compare with Lynmar's.
Lynmar members who transition to a Life Time Fitness membership by Nov. 30 will see their current monthly dues lowered for now, the letter to members says. But Thunstrom said pricing at the new center has not been decided.

Life Time Fitness already operates one Colorado facility in Parker. A second one is scheduled to open soon in Westminster.

The company's founder and chief executive officer, Bahram Akradi, is a former Colorado Springs resident. After immigrating from Iran at age 17, he joined his brother in the Springs and graduated from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in 1982. It was while attending UCCS that he got his first taste of the health club business, working at a local club.

His donations helped fund UCCS's new $12 million recreation center that opened last year.

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CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0272 or bill.radford@gazette.com.