Gym operator Fit24 has taken a fifteen-year lease on a 23,000 sq ft unit at Trinity Walk in Wakefield, the 500,000 sq ft shopping centre developed by Sovereign Land, Area Property Partners and Shepherd Construction. Work has now started fitting out the new state-of-the-art gym, which will overlook Grammar Square – Trinity Walk’s restaurant and café area.
Set to open this summer, Fit24 adds a new dimension to the centre’s fashion-led tenant line up that includes a 117,000 sq ft Sainsbury’s, Debenhams (Wakefield’s only modern department store), Argos and Asda Living, as well as other top UK brands including Next, H&M, Top Shop, Next, USC, New Look & River Island.
The letting follows a busy start to 2012 for Trinity Walk, which has already seen the opening of a 3,000 sq ft handmade burger Co. restaurant in Grammar Square. Meanwhile, fit out of Barclays Bank’s 6,803 sq ft branch is now virtually complete ahead of its opening on 8 May (2012).
Access to the new gym will be via an impressive triple-height, ground floor entrance lobby off Grammar Square. This will lead up to the spacious first floor gym area, which will house over 100 Technogym equipment “stations”, two purpose-built exercise studios plus sauna, steam room and relaxation areas.
Open and staffed 24-hours a day, the new gym will help to further extend the Trinity Walk trading day and compliment the centre’s growing restaurant and café offer.
Fit24’s Trinity Walk gym will be the company’s second in the UK – the first opened in the St Stephen’s Shopping Centre in Hull two years ago (2010). The Hull-based company has plans for further expansion in key locations in Yorkshire over the next few years.
Commenting on the new gym, FIT24 Director Patrick Dudding said:
“Our gyms are flexible, good value and accessible to a broad range of customers. Our business concept combines the quality and service of premium gym with an affordable £12.99 a month fee – which even includes the classes. Combining this formula together with a high footfall shopping centre location has proved very successful in Hull and the stunning unit at Trinity Walk – with views out over Grammar Square – provide us with the opportunity to improve the format further. This bodes well for our future expansion plans.”
Max La Frenais, Leasing Director at Sovereign Land, joint developer and development manager of Trinity Walk, said: “Fit24 is a fantastic addition to the tenant mix at Trinity Walk. It will add a new dimension to our existing brands . The gym will boost footfall in the centre – which is already running at just short of 200,000 per week – as well as increasing dwell time. It will also further expand the demographic profile of our shoppers while providing more reasons for our existing loyal customers (66% visit more than once a week) to visit even more often. The 24-hour trading will have a particularly positive impact on late night shopping and benefit the food and drink outlets.”
Letting agents for Trinity Walk are Lunson Mitchenall and Angermann Goddard & Loyd.
