Beer after a workout? Here’s an inside look at Charlotte gym’s unusual expansion plans
Want a beer after a good workout? One Charlotte gym is hoping to provide just such an opportunity, and is seeking city approval to add a beer garden as it looks to expand its outdoor recreation options.
Prosperity Athletic Club at 9300 Browne Road in north Charlotte is seeking rezoning to renovate its existing racquet club for a new recreational area, plus a public access beer garden, community gardens and pickleball courts.
Gyms across the state have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic as facilities were ordered closed in North Carolina for six months, allowed to reopen in September with limited capacities and other safety protocols.
The fitness center wants to extend its services to year-round and reach the community as a family-friendly venue with more recreation, Tristan McMannis, landscape architect with Dewberry Engineers representing the fitness center, told the Charlotte city council zoning committee last month.
The 10.5-acre site was built in 2001 and acquired in 2016 by Premier Athletic Management, owned by Jeremy Speicher.
City staff recommended approval of the plan. City Council unanimously approved the plan at its Monday, April 19, meeting.
What’s in the proposal
The plan includes:
▪ Construction of a 6,825-square-foot public access beer garden that would include corn hole games, outdoor music and food trucks.
▪ Enclosed canopies over three tennis courts for year-round use.
▪ Converting two indoor tennis courts to indoor pickleball courts.
▪ Construction of two outdoor sand courts and two pickleball courts.
▪ Trail around a proposed stormwater pond.
It’s similar to a Kansas venue
The concept is similar, McMannis said, to Kansas-based Chicken N Pickle, an indoor-outdoor entertainment complex with a restaurant and sports bar with pickleball courts, yard games and event space.
Don Peadon of Peadon Finein would be the architect.
Speicher said the gym is membership based but already has some lessons, leagues and clinics open to non-club members.
“The goal of this expansion is to enhance year-round use and to incorporate more expansion of public use around the facility,” he said at the March meeting.
Speicher did respond to a request for comment.
COVID-19 impact on gyms
State legislature attempts to reopen gyms last summer failed, as did lawsuits filed by business owners. At the time, N.C. health officials said COVID-19 could be spread more easily when breathing heavily during exercise.
Capacity operation was increased to 75% since March 26.
This story was originally published April 17, 2021 at 6:30 AM.