180 Fit Gym offering unique downtown fitness experience
Date: 1/9/2014
By G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.comSPRINGFIELD – There is no gym in the region with a view like 180 Fit as there are no fitness centers that are the ninth floor of a downtown office tower.
That is part of the unique features of the business that opened on Jan. 6 on the ninth floor of One Financial Plaza at 1350 Main St., according to its two owners Brian Roach and Jesse Baker.
The goal is to have a fitness facility aimed for the people who work downtown, the two men explained. Roach said the gym would give people who want to work out an option near their work at a competitive price.
The gym has treadmills, stationary bicycles, ellipticals, and a weight room, a room designed for classes such as Zumba, yoga and other group activities.
Evan Plotkin, who manages the building, noted the lockers are large enough to hold a business suit without wrinkling and the club offers a lunch service in conjunction with Elegant Affairs catering. People who work out at lunchtime can order a meal that will be ready for them by the end of their routine – either packaged to go or ready to eat in the club’s lounge area.
Plotkin said the club is offering discounts to the companies in the building, which is benefit he is using when discussing leases with new tenants. He added the gym is part of the answer to the question, “How do you make Springfield more livable?”
He explained the city needs “venues like this where people can meet and get together other than a bar.”
The pair had run the Sheraton athletic club at the nearby hotel for five years and had wanted to strike out on their own for the past several years Roach said. They left the Sheraton one year ago when they saw the former office space.
The two men did most of the renovations themselves and Baker said it took them longer than expected, but that was actually an advantage. The delay enabled Plotkin to market the gym inside the building and the Springfield Business Improvement District to introduce it to businesses in other buildings downtown.
The men designed the look of the gym and Baker said, “We wanted to the gym to have its own energy and not be just four while walls with a mirror.”
For more information on the gym, go to
www.180fit.gym.com.
