Health club to open in Fort Hill Shopping Center

Major renovations for a new tenant are under way at the Fort Hill Shopping Center, a once-popular destination that has not seen a new business in about four years.

Kinetix Health Club, a small chain currently operating in Georgia and North Carolina, plans to take over the storefronts formerly occupied by Dollar General and Asian Grill.

The gym, which is scheduled to open in early to mid-August, will occupy about 22,000 square feet of space, according to operating partner David Gillespie.

The company is investing more than $400,000 in facility renovations and $1.5 million in new equipment, Gillespie said.

“We’re going to come in with the best-equipped club in town and the best group exercise classes,” he said, adding the place would also be a “showstopper” in terms of design.

Gillespie, who currently resides in North Carolina but plans to permanently relocate to Lynchburg, said Kinetix would also be opening up at least two more locations around the city, although he declined to immediately say where.

Kinetix currently operates three locations in Georgia and two in North Carolina, according to its website. The Better Business Bureau has given its Georgia outlets an “F” rating and its North Carolina outlets a “C+.”

The ratings, which are based on an A to F scale, are due in part to the number of complaints received about the health clubs, according to the BBB’s website. The BBB says it’s received 12 complaints about the North Carolina clubs over the past eight months and 28 complaints about the Georgia clubs over the past 2½ years.

The complaints appear to deal primarily with allegations of dishonest sales practices, billing disputes and difficulty in canceling contracts, according to summaries given.

The BBB reported that all of the complaints received in North Carolina were resolved and all but one in Georgia were resolved, although not always to the customer’s satisfaction.

Gillespie said he felt part of the problem in those places was that Kinetix was not actively involved in the business communities in Georgia and North Carolina, which had a “big time” effect on communication.

He said the locations in Lynchburg would be members of the local chamber of commerce and the regional BBB. He also will also be more directly involved in managing the local clubs.

“That’s why I’m moving here,” he said. “I don’t want to depend on someone else.”

Any complaints made will be addressed immediately, he said.

Gillespie said he and his business partners, who started Kinetix nine years ago, also operate the Bodyplex fitness chain in Georgia. The BBB gives the individual Bodyplex locations ratings ranging from F to A+.

In its first Lynchburg location, Kinetix plans to bring in 100 pieces of cardio equipment, free weights and a full-scale personal training department. The club will also offer a free kids fun center with play equipment, televisions and computers.

Gillespie, who has seven children, said he first became acquainted with Lynchburg while attending summer football camps with one of his sons about 4½ years ago. The camps included programs at Virginia Tech and Liberty University, he said.

“When we came through Lynchburg every time, I thought, wow, this is a beautiful town,” he said. “And everyone is so nice … It’s a real community environment.”

The Fort Hill Shopping Center was once a major commercial hub for its surrounding neighbors, but the early 1960s facility has seen its roster of tenants dwindle over the years.

The entire west wing of the L-shaped site, a location that once boasted a Winn-Dixie, is currently vacant.

The shopping center’s leasing agent, George Lupton of Thalhimer/Cushman & Wakefield Alliance, said the owners are thinking of renovating that entire stretch of stores, though, and so are not currently marketing it.

The Fort Hill Shopping Center has nine tenants at the moment, including the Fort Hill Bowling Center, Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts, and an Octapharma Plasma donation center. The last new business to open there was the plasma center in 2007, according to information culled from business license dates, archived newspaper articles and the merchants themselves.

Two of the current tenants, Kwik As A Wink Dry Cleaners and the Village Barber Shop, were among the original businesses that moved into the shopping center when it opened in 1962.