Woodbridge Twp. May Buy The Club At Woodbridge

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — If you work out at The Club at Woodbridge, you may soon be getting your daily burn in at a gym owned by the Township.

That's because Woodbridge Township is currently in talks to purchase the privately-owned gym, located on Main Street near the Wegman's. This news was confirmed Thursday by John Hagerty, a spokesman for Woodbridge Township.

The Club at Woodbridge has been privately owned and operated by a family for years, and it was they who initially approached Woodbridge Twp. officials several months back and said they were interested in selling the popular gym and sports club.

"They've been in business there for the past 40 years now and they approached the Woodbridge mayor three to four months back," said Hagerty. "They'd like to retire and find someone else to take over the business."

At the Aug. 21 Council meeting, the Woodbridge Twp. Council passed an ordinance that set aside funding for the potential purchase of The Club. The ordinance allows Woodbridge to spend no more than $9.95 million for the purchase of the club: $7.2 million would be spent on purchasing the land, building and all the gym materials inside and the rest would be spend on renovations at the club, said Hagerty.

While the deal is not completed yet, Woodbridge Twp. hopes to take ownership by Oct. 1 of this year.

What kind of renovations would be done?

"They have tennis courts there now and they are used very little," said Hagerty. "The Township may remove the tennis courts and install an ice hockey rink there. We make well over $1 million a year on the community ice hockey rink across the street, as many travel teams rent it out. Given the fact that ice hockey is becoming such a popular sport, we may put another one there."

The Woodbridge Community Center is right across the street from The Club, so it would benefit the town to have two municipal complexes so close to each other, he said.

The Township would issue a bond to borrow that money, and there would likely be no tax increase for Woodbridge residents if the Township buys the club, Hagerty said.

"We would use the finances from membership and use the profit we already make from the Woodbridge Community Center to pay down the bond," he said. "We fully anticipate membership will not only remain the same, but will increase."

In fact, membership costs may even decrease once the Township takes ownership, but the likelihood of that remains to be seen.

"The employees who work there now would not lose their jobs; they would now become municipal employees," said Hagerty. "The basic services and amenities that are there now would not change and we may even be able to lower rates."

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