MODESTO, CA -- In-Shape Health Clubs purchased the indebted YMCA of Stanislaus County in Modesto, CA, for an undisclosed amount. The Y’s 47,518-square-foot facility closed in February because of financial concerns.

The original asking price for the building was $3.595 million, which the Y’s board said would be sufficient to pay its debtors. The board dropped the price to $2.95 million around the time it closed the building. At that time, the Y’s debt was cited as $2.18 million.

In-Shape said it plans to renovate the facility before it is reopened as a private club.

“We want to make it real clear; this is not going to be the YMCA,” Rob Farrens, In-Shape vice president of sales and marketing, told The Modesto Bee. “There will be a metamorphosis. People will come in and say, 'Wow, this doesn’t even look like the same place.’ We’re going to be putting 6 or 7 million dollars into remodeling this place.”

The facility currently hosts a gymnasium and two pools, but In-Shape filed plans with the city to convert one of the indoor pools to an outdoor one, and build another outdoor pool and water slide. The club also may feature an indoor rock climbing wall, Farrens told the newspaper.

Founded in 1981, In-Shape is based in Stockton, CA, and operates 34 clubs in that state, including five in Modesto.

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