In the coming months, Maplewood residents can say goodbye both to a dollar store and maybe to the spare tire around their waists. As the Springfield Avenue Partnership's Executive Director Beth Anne Macdonald happily reports, there’s a new gym coming to Springfield Avenue.
The gym, tentatively slated to open this fall, will replace what is now the 99 Cent Globe store, which is scheduled to close this summer.
The gym will be a full-service facility open to both men and women. The plans call for the space to be an open, large room with windows looking out to the street. A second floor may be built sometime down the road.
It’s a dramatic change for the space, which has housed an Acme Market and a Rite Aid.
“It needs to be gutted,” Macdonald said, explaining that eight to ten weeks of construction is expected in the space once 99 Cent Globe closes. “Everything needs to be put in.”
The name of the gym owner will be familiar to Township residents; former Fire Department Chief Wayne Crowell, who also recently purchased the former convents at 256 Franklin St.
“He’s self-funded and very invested in the town,” Macdonald said.
Macdonald touted the project as a morale booster for the business district. Close to other health-oriented businesses, the coming gym should be able to complement other area businesses such as nearby health restaurant, HLS.
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