LA Fitness will close three of the 11 Phoenix-area clubs that it acquired last month from 24 Hour Fitness, the company announced in a statement on Wednesday.
The clubs will close on Dec. 15. The company has been reaching out to all employees at these locations to see if they would be interested in a position at another club, according to the statement.
“After evaluating the club options in the Valley, we determined that this would allow us to focus on providing each member with the widest variety of amenities and on making further investments in existing and new clubs for the area,” Mike Ulibarri, Fitness International LLC regional vice president, said in the statement. Fitness International LLC is the parent company of LA Fitness.
The clubs to be closed are located at 1919 North Power Road in Mesa, Arizona; at 4316 West Bell Road in Glendale, Arizona; and at 14150 North 100th Street in Scottsdale, Arizona. The closing club in Mesa is less than one mile from an existing LA Fitness club on the same street. The Glendale club is 1.5 miles from an existing LA Fitness club, also on the same street. The Scottsdale location is less than six miles from two existing LA Fitness locations.
In last month's club exchange between the two companies, 24 Hour Fitness took over one LA Fitness club in Omaha, Nebraska, and two LA Fitness clubs in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. At that time, 24 Hour Fitness President Frank Napolitano told Club Industry that 24 Hour Fitness had "no intention of closing any clubs as part of this transaction."
Club Industry reached out to LA Fitness for comment about the exchange when it happened, but LA Fitness did not respond at that time to say whether it would be closing any of the clubs it was acquiring.
All existing members of the closing clubs, including those who currently have only single club access, will be given access to all of the LA Fitness clubs in Arizona with no increase in their monthly dues, LA Fitness said.
LA Fitness ranked No. 1 on Club Industry's Top 100 Clubs list of 2015 with an estimated revenue of $1.85 billion in 2014. 24 Hour Fitness ranked No. 2 on the list with 2014 revenue of $1.33 billion, according to sources.