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High-end fitness brand Life Time wants you to live at the gym

The company plans to open salubrious residences in Las Vegas, Miami, and Dallas starting in 2020.

High-end fitness brand Life Time wants you to live at the gym

[Image: courtesy of Life Time]

BY Ruth Reader3 minute read

Fitness is seeping into everything. For years, fitness junkies have been going to yoga retreats and coworking from their health clubs. Equinox is now making hotels, so you can keep your healthy lifestyle going even when you travel.

But if you’re really going to go big, why not just move into the gym?

High-end gym developer Life Time plans to open salubrious residences in Las Vegas, Miami, and Dallas starting in 2020, the company said today. These luxury apartment buildings will be constructed next to new or existing Life Time Fitness clubs, and membership will be built into monthly rents with access to the other 140 locations for workouts when you travel. The company has 1.7 million members paying $190 per month for its gyms.

It’s another sign that the spaces where we live, work out, shop, and learn are all converging as people seek out the ultimate convenience: everything you want within a strolling distance. Lots of landlords and developers are considering how their spaces can be all things to their chosen demographic. What community a person chooses will largely depend on which brand they identify most with.

The We Company, with its collection of WeWork, WeLive, WeGrow, and Rise Properties, is perhaps the most visible brand that has forged ahead into the world of everything-at-your-fingertips. But other real estate companies have become thoughtful about how they program properties–much like one might program a television channel–with a mix of work space, restaurants, fitness studios, and niche retail brands to attract a particular demographic.

They’re also thinking about the way technology can help their tenants get whatever they want. Real estate companies like Tishman Speyer and Rudin Management have built out mobile apps that act as lightweight concierge services to people who live and work in their buildings.

Baby steps

Life Time has slowly been moving toward building an all-encompassing health mecca, taking baby steps through partnerships with residential buildings. Life Time’s Manhattan location sits inside a luxury residence called Sky, where residents have access to a pool, hot tub, cold plunge, steam room, fitness equipment, pilates classes, and a cafe replete with green juice, smoothies, and healthy meals. There’s also a small eating area, and beyond that, a lounge with sofas, coffee tables, a sunny deck, and the most important resource of all, Wi-Fi. Sleepy? A nap room with curved loungers and low light will accommodate a quick snooze.

Last April, Life Time decided to fully embrace coworking within its sprawling fitness centers. It now has four locations with dedicated workspace, conference rooms, private phone booths, and tech support. With its new residences, the company is being more mindful of what its entire campus has to offer.

CEO Bahram Akradi says he’s thinking about what kind of food and retail is located nearby. Some of that will be predetermined by the existing landlord, but in some instances, Life Time will be able to plug in its own choices. For instance, in Dallas, Life Time is building its residence and fitness center from the ground up and will be able to control which boutique and specialty retailers get placed in the development.

Akradi says he wants to make people’s lives a little less busy. On average, Americans make roughly 10 trips per day per household, based on 2009 data from the Federal Highway Administration. Akradi says he wants his residents have to make fewer outbound trips.

“You’ll probably still have a car, but you’ll probably only make four to five trips [a day],” he says. “The rest you can walk to.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ruth Reader is a writer for Fast Company. She covers the intersection of health and technology. More


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