Will Southdale become known as the place to shop and sweat?
Life Time Fitness Group is considering adding a fitness center in the space currently occupied by J.C. Penney.
Penney’s is still operating in the Edina shopping center and that location is not listed among the nearly 140 stores closing within the next several months.
Jason Thunstrom, Life Time Fitness spokesman, said that the company is beginning to consider nontraditional models for new locations. “With the wave of anchor store closings, we’re working with a number of property management groups,” he said.
The plan is still short of a number of approvals needed. “It’s too early to say if it will be J.C. Penney definitely. It’s very preliminary,” he said.
Representatives from Simon Property Group, the owner of Southdale Center, said there is a pending deal, but the full picture won’t be known for a couple of weeks.
The proposed fitness center is 120,000 square feet and pool on the roof, according plans submitted to the city of Edina.
Life Time Fitness has recently considered nontraditional locations in other markets. In Oklahoma City, Okla., it is taking over a former Macy’s in Quail Springs Mall. In Seattle, where real estate price are prohibitive, it took over a former health club site.
In downtown Minneapolis, it operates the Minneapolis Athletic Club in the Grand Hotel and a two-level facility beneath the main floor of Target Center.
The Chanhassen-based company will open nine more locations in 2017. The Southdale location, if approved, is expected to open in late 2018 or early 2019, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal reported.
[“Source-startribune”]
