LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL — A more than 180,000-square-foot luxury fitness and wellness destination featuring resort-style pools, 14 pickleball courts, and a range of recreation and recovery amenities is set to open early Monday in Lakewood Ranch.
Life Time Lakewood Ranch, at 5000 Lakewood Ranch Blvd. N., will welcome the public at 4 a.m.
Basic membership starts at $339 a month for a single person with $499 monthly dual memberships and $100 junior memberships for children 90 days to 11 years old available, Natalie Bushaw, Life Time's vice president of public relations and corporate communications, told Patch.
Though that might sound pricey, every detail of the fitness center is designed to be accessible and welcoming, she said. ""The goal is that it doesn't feel intimidating, but it does feel warm."
Life Time, a Minnesota-based company that operates nearly 200 athletic country clubs across the United States and Canada, felt that Lakewood Ranch, as one of the region's growing communities, is an ideal location for the brand's combination of fitness, recreation, wellness and social activities.
"Lakewood Ranch is a phenomenally wonderful community, a growing community," Bushaw said. "It's the right place for Life Time."
The Lakewood Ranch facility is the company's first ground-up club in the Tampa Bay market.
The new club includes an 86,000-square-foot indoor facility, a nearly 50,000-square-foot outdoor Beach Club and nearly 50,000 square feet dedicated to pickleball. There's also more than 100,000 square feet of outdoor space, Bushaw said.
The Beach Club features a leisure pool with waterslides, a five-lane lap pool, cabanas, lounge chairs and outdoor dining with poolside service. The property also has a second lap pool, bringing the total to 11 lanes, as well as zero-depth-entry pool areas designed to accommodate families and swimmers of different abilities.
The pickleball facilities include three indoor courts and 11 outdoor courts.
Inside, the club offers cardio and strength-training equipment, functional training areas, group fitness studios and signature classes, including Alpha, GTX and CTR, a reformer-based workout combining core and strength training.
Members also have access to recovery amenities, including HydroMassage, compression therapy equipment and other recovery tools. Separate rejuvenation suites in the men's and women's locker rooms feature cold plunges, whirlpools, steam rooms and saunas.
Other amenities include a full-service LifeSpa and salon, a LifeCafe serving meals and grab-and-go options, a chiropractic clinic, and a complimentary coworking lounge.
The facility also offers a Kids Academy for children ages 3 months to 11 years. Children can participate in activities such as movement, music and art, while parents use the club's other amenities. The program provides up to two and a half hours of supervised care daily, with reservations required for infants.
"So, mom and dad can go work out while they're in the Kids Academy. Then, mom and dad can go get the kids, they can grab lunch in the cafe, they can come outside and spend the day at the pool, getting ices, and mom and dad can get a cocktail," Bushaw said. "They can make a whole day of it."
Although the company offers traditional gym equipment and exercise classes, the fitness center aims to provide an experience that extends beyond working out, she added.
"Whenever people come out and see this space, they say, 'I feel like I'm at a resort, and I didn't leave my city,'" she said.
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