After a few delays, LA Fitness in the Ballard Blocks building (map) opened its doors to the public this morning. It’s a massive facility — LA Fitness’ first “Signature Club” in the country — 58,000 square feet across two floors.
Most of the club is situated in a huge open-air room on the fifth floor. For starters, there are 92 pieces of cardio equipment, all with HDTVs.
The 25 meter pool and spa overlook the Ship Canal.
Full basketball court that also converts into a volleyball court.
The large weight room with 4 racquetball courts in the background.
And a childcare facility for kids as young as 3 months. You may have seen that big tree through the window while driving into Ballard across the bridge.
On the third floor, there’s a large aerobics room.
And a spin room. We asked General Manager Jim Gossler the reason for all the delays — some customers were told the facility would be open as early as December — and he explained LA Fitness made a last-minute change to upgrade to a “Signature Club.” The upgrade included building the majority of the facility on the larger fifth floor, instead of the third. The change also impacted the elevators, which had to be redesigned to reach the fifth floor. When the club was planning to open in late January, the elevators had to be re-inspected, which resulted in a two-week work stoppage.
By the way, the Westlake LA Fitness club will be closing, and customers there can transfer their memberships to the Ballard facility.
