Exactly 10 days after the Greater La Grange YMCA closed its doors, the new Community Park Fitness building opened its doors in La Grange Park.
The indoor fitness facility at 1100 E 31st St. had long been a popular gym for area residents and with new paint, new management and a new name, the new operators, the Community Park District of La Grange Park, are eager to welcome old members back and attract a few new faces.
So far, so good.
“We are so impressed,” said Debbie Valentino, a longtime YMCA member. Valentino said while the turnaround was quick, she has been impressed how eager the Park District was to pick up the location.
A front desk worker chimed in that someone hugged her that morning.
More Top Picks Carts Plant
“They heard the community and they jumped on it,” Valentino said. “What they’ve accomplished in less than two months is amazing. A bunch of us walk here, and the Y said ‘you can go to Elmhurst.’ That’s a little far to walk.”
Jessica Cannaday, the executive director of the Community Park District of La Grange Park, said it was a fortuitous coincidence that the YMCA pulled out of the location as the Park District had long sought to offer an indoor workout facility for its members, but it lacked the space. When the YMCA announced it would leave July 18, Park District officials leaped at the chance to take over the building, provided it came with equipment and the building wouldn’t require expensive upgrades.
It was meant to be a turnkey operation, meaning the YMCA would turn the key over and the Park District could take it over without delay and without spending a bunch of money.
So far, besides some new paint, a carpet cleaning and signs, the Park District hasn’t spent much on the facelift. Cannaday explained the plants out front were donated by neighboring Ace Hardware and volunteers helped paint the walls — and some still need to be painted. Mostly, the gym is as it was.
“We were able to maintain pretty much all the equipment they had here. The only thing we were not able to keep was the Peloton equipment because of the cost to maintain it,” she said.
The steam baths are also gone, though they’re going to be replaced with saunas.
Besides the equipment, Cannaday said, the facility offers the same classes with mostly the same staff.
“We were able to retain a large number of the fitness instructors,” she said, stressing that the people were just as important to keep around as the equipment. “It’s predominantly based on the community, and how they feel when they come in here. They come in, they know what to expect. Our next step is to build on that and develop new opportunities for people.”
Not only are the amenities more or less intact, Cannaday said some membership rates have gone down.
“Basically, everything is less except for the family memberships,” Cannaday said. Those are now $85.
But not everyone is happy with the reopening. Some neighbors are skeptical of the move they say will only make parking worse.
Residents of Newberry Avenue, a residential street that runs alongside the gym perpendicular to 31st Street, have long complained about spillover traffic and gym guests parking on their street. They said YMCA members were already spilling into the neighborhood and the city’s lot on Beach Street, about a block away, isn’t big enough to accommodate members. The village is making moves to turn a residence at 1024 Newberry into a parking lot to accommodate fitness members, but residents say even a new parking lot cannot accommodate all the guests.
At present about 24 public parking spots are available on Newberry and behind the fitness facility. By mid-morning, some two dozen patrons had already stopped in — though some of those walked and others carpooled. Still, residents worry about the additional traffic.
“We have problems with congestion, parking, impinging of driveways, safety issues,” resident Cheryl Peterson said at a July 22 Village Board meeting. “Does anyone know what urban development is? You have to have business because that’s what a thriving community needs. You also have to have protection for your residents.”
Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.