One of the 海角视频’s largest fitness chains, PureGym, is continuing to expand despite not being able to open during the lockdown and has signed a deal on a huge new purpose-built venue in Plymouth.
The company has just signed a £150,000-a-year lease on the 15,000sq ft unit at Coypool. The gym will be in a newly constructed extension to the existing retail park that was formerly a B&Q outlet.
The original building offered just over 37,000sq ft, the majority of which is now occupied by independent electrical dealer HBH Woolacotts and Furniture World.
During the past three years “substantial” investment has been undertaken at the site, by landlord HBH Woolacotts, resulting in a major transformation of the premises.
This has included new cladding, landscaping and an upgrade of the electrical supply to the site.
Since acquiring the site for HBH Woolacotts, property consultant Bruton Knowles has let the surplus space within the existing building to Dreams and now, despite lockdown, has completed the lease to PureGym.
PureGym, which was established in 2009, was in rude health before the Covid-19 pandemic caused it to shutdown and freeze about a million memberships to prevent a tsunami of cancellations in March 2020.
Its results to the end of 2018 saw revenues increase by £30million to £228.4million with a profit of £73.1million, compared to £64.4million in 2017.
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The company acquired Soho Gyms in June 2018, and Europe’s Fitness World chain, in January 2020. It now has about 230 gyms around the country, including another large one in Alexandra Road, Plymouth.
Duncan Costin, property director at PureGym, said: “We’re delighted to finally be able to satisfy a long-standing requirement for representation to the east of Plymouth.
“Covid-19 restrictions permitting, we very much look forward to starting on site with the fit-out and opening to the public at the earliest opportunity.
“Coypool Retail Park will complement our existing club on Alexander Road in the city centre, meaning a greater choice of affordable health and fitness facilities for the population of Plymouth.”
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The new gym, which will create 16 jobs when lockdown restrictions are lifted, will be open for 24-hours a day, Monday to Friday, and from 8am until 6am on Saturdays and Sundays.
Plans showed the new gym will include cardio vascular, strength and bodycore training gear, alongside showers and changing rooms.
Access for staff and members will be via a secure PIN-controlled entry “pod”, monitored by management so a record is kept of every user.
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Planning permission for the unit to be built on what was once an outside part of the B&Q garden centre, in April 2017, and the PureGym plans were approved two years later.
Mark Slade, of Bruton Knowles’ Plymouth office, said: “The investment, both by our client HBH Woolacotts and PureGym is clearly a vote of confidence within this sector and in a wider sense, the Plymouth property market during these uncertain times. We are delighted to have brokered this transaction for all the parties involved.”
Martin Hemmerle, managing director of HBH Woolacotts, said: “We are delighted to welcome PureGym to the Coypool Retail Park and would like to thank Mark Slade of Bruton Knowles for his role in securing such a prestigious tenant.”
In addition to PureGym’s arrival, a drive-thru outlet, expected to be taken by Starbucks, is set for opening in late 2020, early 2021 at the Coypool Retail Park.