Anytime Fitness Corporate Campus - Woodbury

[mister.shoes]

http://www.startribune.com/blogs/280071512.html

36(!!!!) acres for "up to 250" employees. Egads.

[mattaudio]

Yikes, kind of shocking to hear a fitness company going for the suburban office park model at the crotch of two freeways.

[sdho]

Yikes, kind of shocking to hear a fitness company going for the suburban office park model at the crotch of two freeways.

Don't get me started about how Lifetime Fitness -- "the healthy way of life company" -- invested millions in a new parking ramp for even more auto parking at their St. Louis Park/West End club, yet has yet to purchase a single bike rack that affixes to the ground. Neither of their clubs downtown have any bike parking to speak of, either.

I think in the 20th-century mind of the leaders of these companies, biking or walking is what you do if you can't afford a gym membership...

[sdho]

Incidentally, the corporate headquarters of Lifetime is located in a grim office park in Chanhassen off Arboretum Blvd, not far from the offices of Snap Fitness.

[mister.shoes]

I think in the 20th-century mind of the leaders of these companies, biking or walking is what you do if you can't afford a gym membership...

Isn't that how one would justify the existence of gyms-as-the-source-of-exercise in the first place? Because as soon as walking and biking in one's environment is accepted as a perfectly effective method of exercise, paying for the privilege of working out *just to stay healthy* seems ridiculous.

/has a membership at LAF

[mattaudio]

[min-chi-cbus]

Wow

[xandrex]

I think in the 20th-century mind of the leaders of these companies, biking or walking is what you do if you can't afford a gym membership...

Isn't that how one would justify the existence of gyms-as-the-source-of-exercise in the first place? Because as soon as walking and biking in one's environment is accepted as a perfectly effective method of exercise, paying for the privilege of working out *just to stay healthy* seems ridiculous.

/has a membership at LAF

The way a lot of Americans use gyms? Yeah. But even when I had a job where I was on my feet all day (and regularly getting 15,000-20,000 steps per day), the gym was still important if I wanted to stay in shape.

The decline in manual labor jobs is really the culprit for the rise in gyms. Also--in our case--winters that make outside activity sometimes miserable.

[sdho]

The way a lot of Americans use gyms? Yeah. But even when I had a job where I was on my feet all day (and regularly getting 15,000-20,000 steps per day), the gym was still important if I wanted to stay in shape.

The decline in manual labor jobs is really the culprit for the rise in gyms. Also--in our case--winters that make outside activity sometimes miserable.

Agreed. I bike and walk enough for general aerobic activity, but that's not the only consideration to staying healthy and strong. Gyms and active transportation complement each other really well -- but the gyms don't seem to have realized that.

[xandrex]

The way a lot of Americans use gyms? Yeah. But even when I had a job where I was on my feet all day (and regularly getting 15,000-20,000 steps per day), the gym was still important if I wanted to stay in shape.

The decline in manual labor jobs is really the culprit for the rise in gyms. Also--in our case--winters that make outside activity sometimes miserable.

Agreed. I bike and walk enough for general aerobic activity, but that's not the only consideration to staying healthy and strong. Gyms and active transportation complement each other really well -- but the gyms don't seem to have realized that.

Yeah, I'm always surprised by how much lack of forethought some of these places have. My gym used to have no bike parking as far as I could tell, so I would latch it to the railing (a portion that wasn't necessary for safe walking). Now they've moved to a much better location that does include bike parking, but in this case, it's actually pretty hostile to get there. Even though I used to bike to the old location and this location is closer, I've now taken to driving. It takes me 3-4 minutes to get there. But I'm not about get hit by some car flying at 40 mph.

[sdho]

Yeah, I'm always surprised by how much lack of forethought some of these places have. My gym used to have no bike parking as far as I could tell, so I would latch it to the railing (a portion that wasn't necessary for safe walking). Now they've moved to a much better location that does include bike parking, but in this case, it's actually pretty hostile to get there. Even though I used to bike to the old location and this location is closer, I've now taken to driving. It takes me 3-4 minutes to get there. But I'm not about get hit by some car flying at 40 mph.

What's the gym? I'm curious to see what the surroundings are.

[maxbaby]

http://www.startribune.com/blogs/280071512.html

36(!!!!) acres for "up to 250" employees. Egads.

Not all of the 36 acres will be developed. A lot will be kept in it's natural state.

[mulad]

Here's the rendering from the Strib article:


Anytime Fitness HQ rendering, Woodbury by Mulad, on Flickr

[mister.shoes]

http://www.startribune.com/blogs/280071512.html

36(!!!!) acres for "up to 250" employees. Egads.

Not all of the 36 acres will be developed. A lot will be kept in it's natural state.

I get that. The article clearly stated that it would include lots of trails and other nature-based amenities. But if I understand the location correctly, this is at the intersection of 94 and 494/694. Not exactly the boonies, but apparently we're OK using up 36 acres of easy-to-access land within [long] walking distance of the Gateway Corridor BRT on up to (remember, they only have about 150 employees at HQ now) 250 workers.

[MNdible]

If the google earth imagery is to be believed, the area looks sort of wetlandy, so it may well be that not all of the 36 acres are really developable anyway.

[mulad]

More details in the PiPress, which notes that there are currently 50 employees in downtown St. Paul who would presumably be moved here (I kind of think they're in the Cray Plaza building, but I'm not sure):

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... s-woodbury

Yeah, I think the marshy land explains the acreage a lot. Still, the land next to a cloverleaf is not as accessible as someone might think -- it's a mile away from the I-494 interchange at Tamarack Road, and you'd probably have to loop around for a couple of miles to reach the Gateway Corridor. A bridge to connect Weir Drive to Hadley Ave would improve the situation considerably.

The approximate address came up with a Walk Score of 7 when I tried it: http://www.walkscore.com/score/181-weir ... y-mn-55125