MVP Sports Clubs, Orlando, FL, is in the due diligence stage of acquiring the East Hills Athletic Club and the Orchard Hills Swim and Sports Club of Grand Rapids, MI.
The acquisition, which also includes the clubs' real estate, was first reported last month by MiBiz.com. The East Hills and Orchard Hills clubs are operated by Saint Mary's Health Management Co., which leases the properties from a subsidiary of New York-based One Liberty Properties Inc., the website reported.
A spokesperson from MVP Sports Clubs confirmed the acquisition plans to Club Industry but declined to provide further details.
Earlier this year, Saint Mary's announced its intentions of either exiting the operations of the financially challenged health clubs or close them by 2014, MiBiz.com reported. Both clubs include a combined 202,000 square feet of building space and approximately 34 acres of land.
The acquisition does not include a third club run by Saint Mary's, the Michigan Athletic Club of Grand Rapids. That club is independent of the Sparrow Michigan Athletic Club in East Lansing, MI.
MVP Sports Clubs, owned by Amway co-founder Richard DeVos' RDV Corp., already operates three clubs in Grand Rapids. Once the acquisition is finalized, MVP will have 12 clubs in the company—four in Florida and eight in Michigan. Of the four Florida clubs, two are in Orlando—the RDV Sportsplex Athletic Club and the RDV Sportsplex Ice Den—and two are in The Villages in central Florida.
DeVos also is chairman of the ownership group of the NBA's Orlando Magic. He was born in Grand Rapids, and Amway is based in Ada, MI, just outside of Grand Rapids.