A new Planet Fitness is set to open in August near the edge of downtown Detroit.
The gym will be built in an existing building at 1200 Fort St., between downtown and the George W. Young Post Office facility. The roughly 17,000-square-foot building formerly housed a Salvation Army store and donation center.
This will be the 65th Planet Fitness in Michigan and the fourth in Detroit. Northville-based Epic Fitness Group is the largest Planet Fitness franchise group in Michigan and has never closed a location.
Brian Leaf, CEO and co-owner of Epic Fitness Group, said in a phone interview Friday that he expects most of the new gym’s members to be local residents. Other members might be commuters who work in the downtown area and use Planet Fitness’ “black cards,” which allow them to use the cards at any Planet Fitness location.
more: Detroit’s new 600-room hotel could become JW Marriott
more: Detroit City Council gives group another year to raise $36 million to buy armory
“We had been actively looking for a location in the CBD for a number of years, and this place fit the bill,” Reif says. “We had been looking in Corktown, but nothing was available. So when we found out this former Salvation Army building was available, we contacted the landlord and property after property started coming our way.”
The franchise group previously planned to open a Planet Fitness at 1400 Woodbridge Ave. near downtown in 2018 but scrapped the plans after reported lease disagreements. The group’s existing locations in Detroit include Gateway Marketplace on 8 Mile, the Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center near New Center and three locations near Dearborn.
At the new Detroit location, a basic single-location membership will cost $15 a month and include free parking; the Planet Fitness gym chain as a whole recently increased the price for this entry level from $10 that had remained constant for more than two decades.
A Black Card membership with universal access costs $24.99 per month.
“After more than 20 years of maintaining a $10 membership fee, we’ve finally had to raise our prices,” Reif said. “Inflation has clearly had an impact, and I think we were one of the last companies to put off a price increase, but it was about time. $15 is still very affordable.”
Reif said the gym and fitness studio industry in metro Detroit continues to recover after weathering the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
So far, Mr Leaf said the popularity of new injectable weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic, which offer an easy way to lose weight without going to the gym, has not had a major impact on his gym’s business.
“Our business has grown steadily year over year and we’re very pleased with our growth,” Reif said.
Contact J.C. Reindl at 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow us on X. @Jecklindle
This article originally appeared in the Detroit Free Press: Planet Fitness to open near downtown Detroit later this summer