For-profit health club owners in Minnesota are questioning a partnership between the St. Cloud (MN) Area Family YMCA and the city of St. Cloud, which are building a new $27 million aquatics and community center.
The city of St. Cloud would own the 100,000-square-foot center, and the St. Cloud YMCA would operate it. The announcement of the project came in June.
From the St. Cloud Times:
"St. Cloud has promised $10 million in sales tax dollars for the project, and in November, voters will decide whether to approve an additional $4 million. The $4 million would come from an extension of the half-cent local-option sales tax, making the center one of three regional projects to be funded that way."
The newspaper added the Y is raising funds for its portion of the project.
Owners of Anytime Fitness, Snap Fitness and Fitness Evolution expressed concerns over the project and the city's involvement in the deal, as well as the oversaturation of fitness centers in the area. From the Times:
"Jeremy Christensen owns Anytime Fitness locations in Sauk Rapids and Alexandria. When the YMCA opened in Alexandria, he said, he saw a 30 percent drop in membership. He worries that a similar effect could be felt with a YMCA expansion in St. Cloud. 'We're so saturated as it is,' he said."
St. Cloud Area Family YMCA Executive Director Greg Gack told the newspaper a city-Y partnership is not uncommon and that Ys have co-existed with for-profit health clubs in the area for 45 years.
Finance & Commerce reported the project has been in the works for more than a decade. Construction is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2015, with the goal to open the center in January 2017, the newspaper reported.