A Life Time Fitness, Chanhassen, Minnesota, club is coming to a real estate development on the site of the former Reader's Digest headquarters in New York.
The club, which will operate under the Life Time Athletic brand, was part of a groundbreaking ceremony for the $50 million retail component of the Chappaqua Crossing development in New Castle, New York, according to a report from The Journal News. The 40,000-square-foot club will include Life Time's traditional fitness-based offerings, a Life Café, a Life Spa and a children's play area.
"They get a boutique-like exercise experience," Life Time Fitness Area Director Bryan Smith told The Journal News.
The Chappaqua Crossing development is billed as an upscale shopping and dining experience in a traditional village setting. A 40,000-square-foot Whole Foods grocery store is expected to open in 2017 as part of the 120,000 square feet of retail space at the site. The retail village will include five restaurants and a selection of shops, according to the Chappaqua Crossing website. An official opening date for the Life Time Athletic club was not announced.
“I am very proud of what we have accomplished in partnership with the town,’’ Summit Development President Felix Charney, a principal in the Summit Development and Greenfield Partners development partnership, said in a statement. “This is a unique project – there is nothing else like it in Westchester. Not only will it bring great amenities like a Life Time and sought-after retail stores like a Whole Foods Market to northern Westchester, but it will provide luxury housing, as well as a cultural center and improved infrastructure that will benefit the entire community.”
Chappaqua Crossing also includes 500,000 square feet of rental office space, which includes current tenants Northern Westchester Hospital and Mount Kisco Medical Group. Other features at the development include 91 luxury townhomes, 50 acres of permanent open space surrounding the entire site, 28 units of affordable housing and a shuttle connecting to Chappaqua's Metro-North station.
The Life Time Athletic will be the company's second club in Westchester County. The Life Time Athletic in Harrison, New York, is located about 17 miles from the Chappaqua Crossing site.
Reader's Digest founders Dewitt and Lila Acheson Wallace acquired the site of the Chappaqua Crossing development in the late 1930s, and the office space grew to nearly 700,000 square feet. Summit/Greenfield Partners acquired the site in 2004, and Reader's Digest remained as a tenant until it moved to Manhattan in 2010.