Financially Unfit Spa Is Left in Limbo : Closure: The high-toned O.C. health club shut down only months after a high-profile opening, leaving the membership of movers and shakers running in place.

It premiered with fanfare in March, only to close with a whimper five months later.

The Spa at the Center briefly reigned as Orange County’s most exclusive health club--an elegant retreat with marble statues in the lobby and lusciously carpeted dressing rooms. Public relations folks churned out press releases to trumpet its arrival. Movers and shakers signed up to tone biceps and rub elbows at the posh gym near the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.

But now, all is quiet at 695 Town Center Drive. The same spa where officials, who earlier this year couldn’t get enough media notice, have become decidedly less enthusiastic about the exposure. And members have been left in the dark as to whether the $6.5-million club will actually reappear, as management promised after abruptly shutting it down six weeks ago when financing floundered.

“I got a letter when it closed, basically saying that they expected to reopen soon,” said spa member Tom Becket, managing partner at Pillsbury Madison & Sutro, a law firm in Costa Mesa. “Since then, the silence has been deafening and I’ve been getting fatter by the moment.”

Spa President Jeffrey Jones, a co-founder of the club, maintains that it will see life again--just as soon as he finds someone to take it off his hands.

“We’ve had a number of interested buyers,” Jones said. “We’re hoping something will happen within 60 days.”

In that eventuality, Jones said, he will relinquish all involvement in the spa. “I’ve spent the past two years on this project, making virtually no money on it,” he said. “It hasn’t been any fun.”

Before his latest endeavor, Jones helped to develop 15 other luxury spas around the country, including the Green Valley Athletic Club in Las Vegas. “As far as I know, all of them are still operating,” he said.

Jones blamed the spa’s trouble on financial commitments that never materialized--in particular, a $1-million loan against equipment that the club already had on site. According to Jones, a lender had offered to provide the spa an infusion of cash by buying the equipment from the club and then renting it back.

“Factors that brought about the closure were outside of our control,” he said. “Every business has problems getting capital these days.”

In its short existence, the spa attracted about 250 members, who paid a $1,250 initiation fee plus $99-per-month dues. Lifetime memberships cost a hefty $10,000. Jones said that he would expect a new owner to carry over those memberships, although doing so would not be mandatory.

“The membership is made up of some very well-known community leaders, and it would be foolish for anyone not to honor the membership agreements,” he said.

Local businessman Dick Engel, who held an advisory position as chairman of the board for the spa, said he is less than optimistic that the spa will find a rescuer quite as soon as Jones hopes.

“There’s no word of anyone buying out the partnership’s interest,” said Engel, president of Costa Mesa-based Powerplant Specialists Inc., which engineers, builds and maintains power plants and refineries. “It may take a while.”

The spa is owned by a partnership that is made up of Prudential Insurance Co. and private investors, including Segerstrom family members. C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, which developed the South Coast Plaza area, is the club’s landlord.

Engel said that members he has talked with are “mad as hell” about the spa’s closure. “Apparently, Mr. Jones had not put together enough financing to get it through the infant mortality stage,” he said. A cafe planned as part of the exercise complex was never finished, and membership at the small but elegant club lagged far behind its goal of 800.

Still, even the most vocal members seem more upset about the loss of their four-star gym than the loss of money. “I loved it--it was the finest facility I have ever been in,” Engel said. “I’ve been in a complete state of physical remission ever since it closed.”

“I’m mad it closed, but I’m not concerned about the money,” said Mission Viejo resident Dan Hernandez, vice president of marketing for PGP Industries, a precious-metal refining company in Santa Fe Springs. “I just wish they could have kept it going. It was a great facility.”

Glenn O’Hare is surprisingly calm about the spa’s sudden hiatus, despite his investment of $10,000 for a lifetime membership. “It wasn’t like those big sports clubs where yuppies run around flexing,” said O’Hare, owner of All Staff Personnel Services of Orange County Inc. in Tustin. “It was a world-class spa where you could work out with Orange County’s business community.”

He shrugged off the financial loss: “Anyone would be disappointed, but what can you do? Some things work and some things don’t. It’s a toss of the dice.”

Attempting to retrieve money through legal action should the spa fail to reopen would be more trouble than it’s worth, said member Fletcher (Ted) Jones Jr., owner of Fletcher Jones Cars in Newport Beach. “There’s no money to go after--it’s not like someone walked away with a bunch of cash,” he said.”

Spa President Jones confirmed that assumption: “The partnership does not have the funds to refund anyone’s money.”

More apt to feel the pinch than the spa’s affluent members are its 35 idled employees. “All of us were all upset,” said personal trainer Dawn Hofheimer. “They (management) didn’t tell us it was going to close until the day it did. They owed me a $1,000 paycheck for two weeks work. In my mind, you don’t let people work for two weeks if there’s a chance you can’t pay them.”

Hofheimer, 29, said that she had to dip into her $400 savings account to make rent and car payments last month. “It’s not like we’re all living the ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,’ ” she said. “I’m fortunate that I had private clients, and that I don’t have any children. A lot of the employees have families to support.”

Although the return of the spa may be weeks, if not months down the line, the landlord has indicated that one thing is relatively certain: The one-story, 20,000-square-foot building surrounded by high-rises will, indeed, come back as a health club.

“There is no talk of changing the use of the building,” said Jon Anderson, a partner with the Latham and Watkins law firm, which represents landlord C.J. Segerstrom & Sons. “It’s a beautiful facility. We’re cooperating with the effort to bring in a new operator. I don’t think anyone feels it will be ever anything other than a world-class health club.”