Fitness center glut spurs Carmel acquisition

Carmel Total Fitness said today it has purchased the assets of area rival Eclipse Fitness in an effort to stay competitive against the bigger, national chains that are blanketing the Indianapolis area.

Under the agreement, Carmel Total Fitness will acquire the equipment and membership of Eclipse, which will close its sole location near the intersection of 116th Street and Keystone Avenue.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed and could vary depending on the number of Eclipse members retained by Carmel Total Fitness, said its co-owner, Dan Klausner.

Carmel Total Fitness has about 1,500 members and could add up to 1,300 more from Eclipse Fitness. It is located at 820 City Center Drive near the headquarters of Conseco Inc.

Klausner and Scott Visser purchased the 20,000-square-foot facility, which opened in 1990 as World Gym, three years ago.

Eclipse Fitness opened in December 2004 and was owned by Jim Marshall, a co-owner of Indianapolis homebuilder Adams & Marshall Homes, and Roger Kessler, a Fishers attorney.

The deal included fitness equipment worth about $500,000.

“[Eclipse Fitness has] top-of-the-line cardio and resistance equipment,” Klausner said. “That equipment will significantly upgrade the guts of our facility.”

Klausner said competition from national chains, high lease rates and the Monon Center, a city of Carmel project that opened in 2007, made it tough for Eclipse Fitness to compete.

Carmel Total Fitness has managed to perform well despite the increased competition and a challenging economy, partly because Klausner owns the building, he said.

“The pressures to compete with the LA Fitnesses and the Gold’s Gyms of the world are very, very difficult,” Klausner said. “Local ownership has no shot without dedicated people and great service.”

Carmel’s first LA Fitness opened last year in a 45,000-square-foot freestanding building at 2700 E. 146th St. The chain has six other locations in the metro area.

Gold’s Gym has locations downtown and on North Michigan Road and is looking for eight more locally by 2010. Lifestyle Family Fitness has a gym in Greenwood and is looking for as many as 12 locations.

Then there’s the YMCA. Its expansion plans include new facilities in Pike Township, and possibly Westfield.

Retail broker Scott Gray, a partner with The Linder Co., represents LA Fitness in its quest to find more Indianapolis locations.

“There are only so many dollars to go around,” he said. “Some of the smaller fitness facilities probably can carve out a living, so to speak, but it’s survival of the fittest.”

The glut already has taken its toll on Bally Total Fitness, the pioneer of fitness clubs. Two locations, along U.S. 31 in Greenwood and behind The Fashion Mall at Keystone in Indianapolis, are among 26 nationwide the California-based company closed in June as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Bally, which has been in business more than 40 years, still has about 300 clubs.

Despite the tough economy, the health club industry is showing moderate growth. Nationwide, health clubs generated revenue of $19.1 billion in 2008, up 3 percent from the previous year. The number of health clubs grew to 30,022 in 2008, a 1-percent increase from 2007.

Still, the number of Hoosiers considered obese rose about 2 percent, to 26.8 percent, from 2002 to 2007, the most recent year data was available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.