Montrose gym to close

Karen S. Kim

MONTROSE -- Montrose residents and business owners are going to have

to find a new place to “feel the burn” next month, as 24 Hour Fitness on

Honolulu Avenue is closing March 31.

The gym’s departure will mark the 11th or so vacancy seen in Montrose

Shopping Park in recent months, association President Lori Flagg said.

“I’m very disappointed that they decided to close the facility,” Flagg

said. “I think it was an important asset to the area.”

Flagg said the gym has been open for about four years. Local business

owners and employees said they’ve taken to popping in to the facility

during a lunch break or after work.

“It’s an intimate place,” said screenwriter Jeff Zedlar, 40, who works

just a few storefronts down from the gym at 2287 Honolulu Ave. “There’s a

lot of good, intimate, friendly people there, it’s not overcrowded, and

it feels like it’s your own little thing.”

Former U.S. Olympian Donna Mayhew, who is a personal trainer at the

Montrose gym, agreed, “People join this gym because it’s like five

minutes from their house or they can walk there, so the convenience of

Montrose is going to be missed the most.”

Mayhew said 24 Hour Fitness will move her to another gym location.

Zedlar, who works out four or five times a week at 24 Hour Fitness,

said he’ll cancel his membership rather than take the 24 Hour Fitness

membership he’s being offered at the company’s facility on Brand

Boulevard.

“Right now, with the stage I’m at, driving seven miles to a gym that’s

crowded isn’t going to work out,” he said.

24 Hour Fitness officials’ only response to the closing was a prepared

statement.

‘This location is much smaller than our traditional club standards,

and we have worked to open traditional 24 Hour Fitness clubs in the areas

surrounding the Montrose community,” the statement read. “We regret

leaving such a nice community, but we are confident that our surrounding

locations will be able to serve the fitness needs of our Montrose

members.”