Healthworks Is Not Taking Over the Sports Club/LA Chestnut Hill

SPORTS CLUB/LA’S SPIN ROOM. (PHOTOGRAPH BY CHELSEA KYLE)

Updated 5:30 p.m.:

Healthworks has responded to the news that their acquisition of the Sports Club/LA will no longer happen. Here is the statement in full:

Dear Sports Club/LA Member,

We understand Equinox announced on Friday night that Sports Club/LA Chestnut Hill will close at the end of the month. This is devastating news for the staff and disappointing to all of you who were hopeful that a smooth transition in ownership would take place. Over the past six weeks we were fortunate to have met so many staff and members. We have been truly touched by the staff’s passion and commitment to the club as well as the members’ loyalty to the staff.

When we announced the anticipated acquisition in July, all parties believed that a deal was within reach, but unfortunately after working diligently for the last six weeks we were unable to finalize lease terms. Negotiations continued until late Thursday afternoon at which point it was clear that an impasse was reached. Due to numerous outside factors, we believe the terms of the lease would have made it impossible for any fitness club to succeed in the space. As a local business serving the community for over 30 years, our priority is to ensure we are in the position to serve our members, employ our talented team of over 500 employees and contribute to the community for years to come. In the end, the economics of the lease would have left our company with a level of risk that was simply too high.

We wanted to take this opportunity to announce that Lisa Romano, who built and managed the For Kids Only program at both Sports Club/LA locations, is joining our team as a Regional Director. She will coordinate and grow our childcare and programming options for children at our four Healthworks clubs. We are thrilled to have her come on board and are excited for her to implement high quality enrichment programs for children as she did at both local Sports Club/LA locations. In addition to Lisa, we are committed to providing jobs to any of the other Sports Club/LA team members who were planning to work for us if we had acquired the club. We have extended offers of employment to all of them, and many have decided to work at one of our clubs. We are looking forward to having them as part of our team.

Earlier:

The Sports Club/LA Chestnut Hill, a luxe gym that’s barely two years old, will close effective September 30. Members were surprised to receive the information via email late Sunday evening.

We reported in July that all of the Sports Club/LA clubs were to be taken over by Equinox, except for a select few. One of those few was the Chestnut Hill location, which was set to be taken over by Healthworks. It was supposed to be a whole new concept for Healthworks—a co-ed one—but now, apparently, that deal has fallen through. “It will be a more luxurious brand and it will be co-ed,” Marketing Director Tara Wislocki said back in July. Healthworks was supposed to take over operations September 1.

It looks like Sports Club/LA Chestnut Hill members will either have to join the new Equinox or the newly renovated Healthworks across the street.

We have reached out to Healthworks reps and will update this post when we hear back.

This is the email sent to members: