Facility Design, Construction & Decoration
It’s amazing what a little renovation can do for your business. Just ask the Peggy & Philip B. Crosby Wellness Center, which not only increased member retention as a result of its “Fitness Furbish” redesign, but also bolstered its personal training program by a whopping 500 percent.
The redesign began as an effort to boost the facility’s cardiovascular offerings, per requests from members. To do this meant increasing staff, as well as hardware. The problem, however, was that the existing facility would accommodate neither. “It was an architect’s dream, but a functional nightmare,” says wellness services director Bob Brosmer. “The designers didn’t really understand the fitness market. The place was great-looking, but for it to function the way we hand in mind would entail a lot of work.”
The renovation process began in the mid-1990s, with goals that were straightforward and simple. First was the club’s intention to add more cardiovascular and resistance equipment, based on client recommendations. Focus groups were formed and surveys were distributed among members so that proper consensus could be determined. Next, the club wanted to make it possible for the personal training department to service a greater number of clientele. Circumstances would soon demand that this goal be met in full.
“Personal training session attendance swelled as a result of the changes,” says Brosmer. “Back in 1994, just before the process got underway, we averaged about 116 sessions per month. Almost immediately after the renovation was completed, that number jumped to 360. Now, in 1996, we’re up to 650. If you compare 1994 to 1995, you find monthly attendance increased by 500. On top of that, our attrition rate has dropped by 21 percent.”
Another goal was to simplify the wall structure of the fitness area, while adding space. This, according to operations manager Phil Armand, was a top priority if the project was to move beyond the drawing board. “The interior of the building had a lot of odd angles and shapes which limited the amount of space available on the fitness floor,” he says. “When we expanded, the idea was to leave the exterior of the building as it was, while simplifying the interior lines and increasing the space of the fitness floor to make it more efficient. This was primarily accomplished by changing the walls a little, and moving a couple of offices.”
The final goal was to provide a more affordable renovation plan than the one proposed by the upper ranks of Park Memorial Hospital. Before operating as Crosby Wellness Center, the facility was part of the hospital. Then, the Winter Park Health Foundation sold 50 percent of the hospital to Columbia Health Care Corp., limiting to virtually zero its participation in the life of the wellness center. A “building only” renovation plan of $400,000 had been proposed by the hospital, one that did not take into account the interior changes requested by Armand, Brosmer, the staff and membership.
The original manager’s office, for example, disappeared as the fitness floor was expanded, and was reborn in an under-utilized storage area. The cardiovascular equipment was transported to the center of the fitness area, which not only made it more accessible, but added a sense of openness to the facility as a whole. Many of the odd angles that made the club so difficult to work in were absorbed by the expansion of the fitness floor and the subsequent relocation of equipment and office space. In the end, the facility was more livable, workable and “workoutable” than ever before.
To Armand and Brosmer, Fitness Furbish’s most significant industry contribution is that it set a standard for club and client cooperation. Not only did the clients suggest the changes, some actually performed the work. “Both the contractor and the architect are club members,” says Armand. “They, and the other members, had a huge impact on this project, from the planning all the way to its execution. We deliberately solicited the opinion of everyone via surveys and focus group meetings, and in the end, we wound up with a club which the greatest number of clients found satisfactory. You might say this renovation was custom-designed by the clients for the clients.”