Planet Fitness Headed to Montgomery

If you’re still struggling with your New Year’s resolution to lose weight and work out more, you’re in luck. This spring, Montgomery’s going to get its own Planet Fitness gym.

The new 21,650-square-foot fitness center is scheduled to open in the Settler’s Landing shopping center sometime in late March or early April, according to owners Chris Kouros and Jim Lekatsos. And when it does, it will offer not only the chain’s trademark “judgment-free” workout space, but it will hopefully inject a shot of life into a shopping center that could use it.

The new Planet Fitness will occupy a center space in the mall, at 1842 Douglas Road. It will feature more than 75 pieces of cardio workout equipment, from ellipticals to treadmills and stationary bikes, with room to add more. It will sport two full circuits of weight training equipment, and an array of free weights.

It will include five tanning booths, massage chairs, a hydro-massage bed (which allows users to direct high-pressure jets of water across their bodies), a red light therapy booth (an anti-aging treatment designed to reduce wrinkles and lines), about 30 LCD televisions, and areas for 30-minute workouts and 12-minute abdominal training.

Planet Fitness will also have certified trainers on staff, offering sessions at no additional cost to members.

But most of all, Kouros says, it will provide a place for the average person to get in shape. Planet Fitness, he says, is well known for its “judgment-free zone” policy—it won’t be a place for hardcore weight trainers, but will strive to provide a comfortable workout destination for everyone. (There’s even a separate stretching area with waist-high walls.)

“Most people are hesitant to join a gym because they may not feel comfortable,” Kouros said. “We want to drop all those walls people feel they encounter. We want to cater to people who wouldn’t normally go to a gym."

Starting Monday at 10 a.m., Planet Fitness will start selling memberships—the gym is still under construction, but the owners will be setting up a sales center next door. The deal, as Kouros explains it, which runs until March 23: you pay a $1 enrollment fee, and $10 a month, and you get use of the exercise equipment and unlimited fitness training. And you can quit at any time.

The “black card” membership costs $19.99 a month, but you get access to the tanning booths, massage chairs, hydro therapy and red light therapy. You also get 50 percent off cooler drinks, and you get to bring a guest in each time you visit. However, there is a one-year commitment with the black card membership, and it costs $58 to cancel.

Members will also get free pizzas on the first Monday of each month, and free bagels in the morning on the second Tuesday, Lekatsos said. The presale office will be open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Planet Fitness has more than 500 locations, and three million members, according to a company press release.

Montgomery’s Planet Fitness will be the first new business to open in Settler’s Landing in years. The shopping center was built in 1984, at the corner of Douglas Road and Route 30, and was once one of the largest of its kind in Kendall County. It housed a Kmart, Dominick’s, Big Lots and Walgreens, as well as several smaller stores.

But within the past 10 years, both Dominick’s and Walgreens moved out of the center, and nothing has moved in. Three stores remain–, and restaurant–with Taco Bell and occupying outlots.

According to new owners RCG Ventures, who last year, roughly 52,000 of the 176,000 square feet of retail space in Settler’s Landing sits vacant. Planet Fitness will reduce that number to about 30,000 square feet of open retail space.

Charlene Coulombe-Fiore, executive director of the Montgomery Economic Development Corporation, said Planet Fitness will bring "a shot of sunshine" to Settler's Landing, and added that she has already talked to other businesses interested in moving in.

"It will pick up that center, clean up that center, and bring new development," she said.

When the new Planet Fitness opens for business, it will be a 24-hour-a-day affair during the week. It will open at midnight on Mondays, and close at 9 p.m. on Fridays, with Saturday and Sunday hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Click here for more information.