Middletown Life Time Still Planning 2024 Opening, Company Says

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — What's the latest on the Middletown Life Time, the $40 million luxury fitness club coming to Half Mile Road?

"We are on track yet for the 2024 opening. Work is happening inside," Life Time spokeswoman Natalie Bushaw said Wednesday.

The shell of the building is being built now, and construction also started on the parking garage planned for next door.

And the "new" news is that Life Time also plans to open a high-end co-working space directly across the street from the gym, to be called Life Time Work. Pricing is not determined yet, but open lounge memberships (not a dedicated desk or office space) typically start around $500 a year. When you sign up for Life Time co-working space, you also get the gym membership included.

Life Time (the company dropped the "Fitness" from their name) is the massive three-story luxury fitness and wellness complex coming just off Parkway Exit 109, on Schulz Drive in Middletown. The office building that used to be there was torn down.

Once it opens, Life Time says they will have two pools and a ground-level beach club, an in-house salon and spa, an indoor basketball court and a cafe.

"What we often hear from members is we're today’s modern country club without the golf,'" Bushaw previously told Patch. "Think resort-style: Pools, lounge chairs, bistro, etc. Life Time is a comprehensive healthy living, healthy aging and healthy entertainment that encompasses the entire spectrum of daily life for individuals, couples and families of all ages."

"This is a great market," she added, referring to the greater Middletown area, including Holmdel, Rumson, Little Silver and Marlboro/Colts Neck.

No word has been revealed on what membership dues will be.

The Middletown Life Time sounds like it may be similar to "the NAC," the Newtown, PA athletic club that was the subject of this Philadelphia Magazine expose: Trump, Sex, and G-Strings: The Juicy Story Behind Newtown Athletic Club ... so much more than a suburban gym.

The Middletown location would be the sixth Life Time in New Jersey; there are existing Life Times in Bridgewater, Montvale, Berkeley Heights, Florham Park and Princeton. The company opened its first location Florham Park in 2008.

The Middletown Life Time co-working space will be located directly across the street, overlooking the luxury fitness center. You can rent the space on either a yearly or month-to-month basis and there will be private offices, meeting space, WiFi and printing.

Bushaw said they had the idea to add co-working space as they saw more and more members bringing their laptops to the gym, and working from there.

"For many years, people would work out at our clubs and then work, too," she said. "We first started adding more outlets in our Life Cafes, then more seating areas throughout the club, then more lounge spaces, and ultimately realized the opportunity."

As we reported last March, local Middletown dentist Anthony DiCesare, who owns DiCesare Periodontal and Implant Center on Half Mile Road, sued Life Time last year to prevent them from opening.

He said traffic on Newman Springs and Half Mile Road will get worse once Life Time opens, and would prevent patients from getting to his dental office. He also named Middletown Township in his lawsuit, for changing the zoning on the property.

In 2022, a judge dismissed DiCesare's lawsuit, allowing development of the Middletown Life Time to proceed.

"I'm going to keep fighting them," DiCesare vowed to Patch at the time. "I plan to appeal. I know I am only an annoyance to them and these are people with huge pockets. But I'm going to take this as far as I can go. Drive along Rt. 35 by Circus Liquors. The traffic is horrible and the town is operating off the principle that if (a new development) brings more money to the town, it will be approved and to heck whatever happens."