Snap Fitness gains downtown foothold

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This article was published 31/10/2016 (3502 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new anchor tenant has been found for an overlooked building in the heart of downtown.

Local Snap Fitness franchisee Ryan Sourisseau plans to open an 11,000- to 12,000-square-foot Snap Fitness location in the Dayton Building at 323 Portage Ave., across from the MTS Centre.

Sourisseau said the new gym, which is expected to open early in the new year, will be the first gym downtown to be open 24 hours a day. It will also be the largest Snap Fitness location in North America.

The three-storey, 50,000-square-foot building, which opened in 1955, has been without an anchor tenant since the end of 2012 when the former 4Play Sports Bar closed. In addition to the main-floor retail space, there are also two floors of office space, small pockets of which are also unoccupied.

The sports bar/restaurant space is located at the back of the main floor. The Snap gym will occupy the front half of the main floor and the mezzanine level.

Caldwell Banker’s Terry O’Rourke, who is one of the listing agents for the building, said the owner hopes to attract another restaurant/bar for the former 4Play space.

“It’s virtually turn-key,” he said. “It’s about 5,700 square feet and has a fully equipped kitchen — fryers, coolers, fridges, plates, pots, pans — you name it, it’s all there. It’s also got one of those pizza ovens.”

O’Rourke said he has shown the space to a number of restaurant chains and to a local restaurateur, who has shown the strongest interest.

“We’re waiting to see if an offer is forthcoming.”

Sourisseau and Steven Paulus, senior associate with Avison Young Commercial Real Estate (Manitoba) Ltd., said they looked at several other downtown locations before selecting the Dayton Building.

“We felt being across from the MTS Centre was a great option,” Sourisseau said, adding he’s also hoping the Dayton Building will eventually be connected to the skywalk system.

He and Paulus said while there are two other gyms downtown — Goodlife Fitness at 201 Portage Ave. and the YMCA/YWCA on Vaughan Street — neither is open 24 hours a day.

Paulus said Snap Fitness hopes to attract workers from nearby office buildings, as well as tenants in the newly opened Glasshouse Skylofts condominium tower on Hargrave Street.

The new police headquarters and the True North Square retail/office/residential/hotel development, which is under construction, are a couple of blocks away.

“Snap Fitness is an international brand, and it’s coming to downtown Winnipeg, which shows what is happening downtown right now,” he added. “There is lots of excitement happening, and I think this is another positive thing that is happening.”

The gym will be Sourisseau’s third Snap Fitness franchise in Winnipeg. The former mortgage broker also owns the franchise in Selkirk.

Chadwick McMullan manages Sourisseau’s franchises in Osborne Village and at 249 St. Mary’s Rd., and will also oversee the downtown gym.

He said close to $1 million is being spent on renovating the Dayton Building space.

“They’ve gutted the whole place and its going to be all new.”

McMullan said the gym will offer a full range of amenities, including steam showers, personal trainers, weightlifting and boxing instruction, and zumba and yoga classes.

Interested members can also join the gym’s Team Infuriate bodybuilding program and compete in official bodybuilding competitions .

There are 15 Snap Fitness franchises in Manitoba — 12 in Winnipeg and one each in Winkler, Steinbach and Selkirk.

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A new European-style home lifestyle boutique/art gallery has opened on the Academy Road retail strip.

Grace & Co. is owned and operated by Winnipeg designer Dorota Vannan, and includes a home lifestyle boutique and art gallery featuring the work of an up-and-coming local artist.

Located at 556 Academy Rd., the approximately 1,200-square-foot shop carries a variety of home, lifestyle, and bath and body products from Europe, the United States and Canada. They include giftware, glassware, stemware, dishes, cutting boards, fine linens, cookbooks, bath and body lotions and French soaps.

On Friday afternoons and Saturdays, the boutique also sells locally-baked baguettes and cheeses from around the world. There are also plans to begin offering workshops in the new year on topics ranging from putting together the perfect table setting to designing an antipasto platter.

“I’ve travelled around the world and kind of came up with this concept. It’s really difficult to put into words… but when people walk in the door they know exactly what this is,” Vannan said.

“It’s a very eclectic concept, but it seems to work. Lots of people are giving us really good feedback and are understanding what we’re all about, which is wonderful.”

Vannan said customers have told her they’ve been in similar shops in Europe, Quebec and California. If she had to compare it to anything local, she said it’s similar to the former A Touch of Class boutique that used to be on Academy Road.

“It’s something that has been missing in Winnipeg, I think,” she added.

 

Know of any newsworthy or interesting trends or developments in the local office, retail or industrial real estate sectors? Let real estate reporter Murray McNeill know at the email address below, or at 204-697-7254.

 

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca