By Sunayana Prabhu
MIDDLETOWN – While many New Year’s resolutions are falling by the wayside, a new fitness center set to open next month is sticking with its goals.
The official opening of Life Time Inc.’s luxury health club on Half Mile Road is scheduled for Feb. 26. The company already launched Life Time Work, a co-working space near the club, at One RiverCenter campus off Newman Springs Road.
Life Time Work includes 45,000 square feet of open and private workspaces and conference rooms, among other office amenities. The project has a lease agreement with One RiverCenter, a cluster of office buildings that was approved for redevelopment by Middletown Township late last year amid much pushback from residents concerned about the impact it could have on the area.
In addition to concerns about increased traffic on Newman Springs Road, residents of Tinton Falls launched an online petition against any redevelopment which they claim has the potential to affect the Swimming River Reservoir and adjoining wetlands, causing environmental damage and impacts to wildlife habitat and putting drinking water quality at risk.
Middletown is the third Life Time Work in the New Jersey-Pennsylvania area.
The new health club will be Life Time’s seventh in New Jersey. It has locations in Florham Park, Princeton and Mount Laurel, among others. Located off exit 109 of the Garden State Parkway, the $40 million three-story sports, fitness and wellness center received some opposition when it was initially proposed in 2020. Representatives of a neighboring dentistry practice tried to stop the project, but construction resumed after a Monmouth County Superior Court judge dismissed their lawsuit.
The high-end fitness facility situated on the border of Red Bank and Lincroft has been in the works for years. During a phone call Jan. 19, Ashley Sikora, area vice president of Life Time Inc., said the Two River area fits the company’s “membership face” – people from “90 days old to 90 years and more” who are looking for a one-stop shop health club.
Spread over 127,000 square feet, the club will offer an expansive workout floor, fitness studios, six pickleball courts, three indoor swimming pools – a lap pool, lesson pool and leisure pool –and an outdoor pool area that will feature a resort-like pool deck with a leisure pool, lap pool, whirlpool and an outdoor bistro.
The club will also have other amenities like three restaurants with liquor licenses, a tot lot for toddlers and an infant room with complimentary childcare for members, and a full-service Kids Academy offering swim lessons, gymnastics, tumbling, music, homework help and more for kids 3-11 years old.
The facility will also have a Life Time Clinic with on-site chiropractic services and a salon and spa that do not require club membership.
In the works since 2019, the project was delayed due to COVID-19.
“We had to make some really difficult decisions about how we were going to make sure that we were continuing to operate our business,” said Natalie Bushaw, vice president of Public Relations & Corporate Communications at Life Time Inc.
In order to keep the project afloat, the company pressed pause on some construction projects, including the Middletown location. “That needed to be put on hold,” Bushaw said given the “sheer size and scope of the massive project.”
While Bushaw maintains the company was “never concerned” about the future of the business, she acknowledged they “needed to be very fiscally and financially responsible with our dollars.” Moreover, she added, projects of this scale also require a significant time investment “because they’re from the ground up.” She said orchestrating construction with electricians and various engineers in the middle of supply shortages was time-consuming.
The article originally appeared in the February 1 – 7, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
