Mountainside Fitness to Open in Chase Field Stadium

Mountainside Fitness has decided to launch a downtown Phoenix, Ariz., location that will be inside Chase Field, the stadium where the Arizona Diamondbacks, a Major League Baseball franchise, play. According to Billy Malkovich, the CEO of Mountainside Fitness, this facility is the first commercial fitness facility to ever be built inside a professional sports stadium.

Mountainside Fitness has been in negotiations with the Diamondbacks, Major League Baseball and the citizens of Maricopa County for almost a year concerning the more than a million dollar facility. Malkovich said negotiations proceeded smoothly and the project received a green light from all parties — the opening date will occur prior to the first pitch of the Diamondbacks 2012 season.

“We have 13,000 square feet of space on the main concourse inside of Chase Field,” Malkovich said about the facility. “It’s a two-story space, so we will actually put in a mezzanine for a cardio deck that will look out onto the main road that runs in front of the stadium.”

“Adding a state of the art fitness center within the walls of Chase Field is a positive for our employees, fans and people downtown. Chase Field is a clean, safe and family-friendly environment. This addition is a perfect fit and Mountainside Fitness is the perfect partner. Promoting health and wellness to our fans, and giving them convenient access to this facility is truly unique to Major League Baseball,” said Cullen Maxey, the executive vice president of business operations for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The facility is going to be the Mountainside Fitness platinum model, which is a little smaller than the typical 40,000 square foot Mountainside facility. “The main difference when you look at our 40,000 square foot traditional Mountainside to the smaller version is a high-end boutique type feel. For example, at a traditional Mountainside we will have a drinking fountain, at a platinum we have a cucumber water station, or lemon water station. We go that one step further.”

This facility will have full-size locker rooms as well as executive locker rooms. “We are working with a dry cleaner now, where we can do our members’ dry cleaning as well,” Malkovich said. “We believe that will really tie in well with the business community that’s in downtown Phoenix.”

There will also be a shuttle service that picks up members from their places of employment, take them to the club to workout and back to their job. Also, Malkovich said the club will focus on classes during the afternoon lunch hours to help ensure that people can get a great workout in and still get back to work in a timely manner.

Although, no one exercising at the facility will be allowed onto the actual playing surface, Mountainside trainers will have full run of the stadium for small group training, personal training and bootcamp classes. “We have permission from the Diamondbacks to use every part of the stadium, with the exception of the field, when there aren’t games or concerts in there,” he explained. “So, when there’s not a game we can actually take our members out into the stadium and do bootcamps. They can run bleachers — we’ve got access to the stadium as a whole. It will act as a very cool setting for classes.”

The facility will also have it’s own parking lot so that members that want to get a workout in will be able to show up and park during games and concerts. Malkovich said that Mountainside takes a huge interest in kid’s fitness, and they will use game traffic to get kids moving. “Outside of our physical space, on the concourse, we are going to put a full line of kids equipment and staff it during games with trainers, so that during games, if people are walking by with their kids, they can let their kid jump on a treadmill or a little chest press, they will be able to try out our kid’s equipment during game time.”

“There is going to be all glass, so that one side of the building faces what’s called Jefferson, which is the main street that runs by the stadium. The other side of it will actually face out to center field in the stadium,” Malkovich said. “I’m sure from certain angles in the building you’ll be able to see the field.”

According to Malkovich, presales for the facility will begin towards the end of 2011 with an estimated final membership of 2,500 members.

By Tyler Montgomery