Details released about New London recreation center workout equipment

Yahoo

15-02-2025

New London — With less than five months to go before the city's new recreation and community center opens in July, plans for gym equipment, programming and enrollments are accelerating.
Construction of the $40 million, 57,000-square-foot facility on the Fort Trumbull peninsula is set to be substantially complete by April 30 with operators moving in by mid-May, Felix Reyes, the city's director of planning and development, said Friday.
'We'll be adding in all the IT and security components and expect to begin tours in May and June,' Reyes said. 'Before that, in March, the City Council will meet to approve enrollment fees.'
The council last month selected the Power Wellness group to run the facility. Power Wellness leaders laid out a six-month timeline ahead of a June's soft opening that calls for hiring key managers — including a bilingual center director — creating programs and setting dues and membership prices.
Membership costs and annual operational budgets will be worked out between Power Wellness and city officials using a template similar to one used to set admission prices and run Ocean Beach Park.
Reyes said the Chamber of Commerce's Regional Innovation Center on Eugene O'Neill Drive will serve as a temporary recreation center enrollment station beginning in April.
Kettle bells and treadmills
Plans for the center's fitness area are also solidifying, with the council on Tuesday scheduled to approve nearly $500,000 worth of new exercise equipment — from Peloton bikes and stair climbers to kettle bells and heavy bags — for the facility.
The funding will come from a pool of previously approved bonding money earmarked for construction of the facility.
Sale proposal documents from Feb. 5 list dozens of pieces of fitness equipment, including 10 treadmills ($83,000), six ellipticals ($51,400), 10 indoor cycles ($24,500) and two stair-climbers ($17,450). Other cardio options include recumbent bikes, four Peloton bikes, rowing machines and a 75-pound heavy bag.
On the strength side, the center will provide biceps, chest, leg and shoulder machines, as well as various stability balls, foam rollers, kettle bells and free weights.
Reyes said the choice of equipment was made after conversations with a Power Wellness consultant — and the city's police chief, Brian Wright, a longtime fitness advocate.
'I wanted a functional gym, one that had both free weights and machines,' Wright said on Friday, noting while both the police and fire departments have their own gyms, the new center will offer another option to those personnel.
Reyes said he wants the fitness center to appeal to individuals of varying fitness levels.
'We want the young athletes and the normal laypeople,' he said. 'It's designed for multi-generational use.'
The facility, which will house a two-court gym, fitness center and eight-lane pool, along with office and community space, is scheduled to host an opening ceremony before July 4 and fully open to the public later that month. The city's recreation department will also have offices inside the new center and will run some of its programming from the site.
Recreation Department Director Josh Posey on Friday said he's still fine-tuning programming for the new facility.
'But I'm pricing ping-pong tables now for our community room,' he said.
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