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Thursday, December 31, 1998
Airport gym deal awaits OK by commissioners
24 Hour Fitness wants to pay 10 percent of revenues to run a club for travelers and workers at McCarran.
By Steve Friess
Review-Journal
On the layover from hell?
Stressed out because airline reps are giving you the runaround?
Sick of waiting all day for your ride?
By summer, travelers and employees at McCarran International Airport may be able to head to a 12,000-square-foot gym below the baggage claim area to pump iron, catch an aerobics class or take a shower.
The Clark County Commission will consider Monday whether to authorize airport staff to enter into a 10-year contract with 24 Hour Fitness Inc. to open a center at McCarran.
Under the deal, the airport would put up $900,000 to prepare basement space for the gym. In exchange, the gym would bring the equipment and furnishings and pay the airport 10 percent of its gross revenue.
That could be as much as $200,000 a year based on a projected annual gross of about $2 million, airport official Scott Kichline said.
The gym would be available for use by any of the 30 million passengers who pass through McCarran annually and its 10,000 employees who work for Clark County, the airlines or the shops.
The gym would remain open 24 hours a day, as per the fitness company's name, and would offer similar rates as the other four 24 Hour Fitness clubs in Las Vegas and Henderson.
Nonmembers would be charged a daily rate, but members of any of the company's 215 gyms in 11 Western states could use the gym if they belonged to a certain membership type, said 24 Hour Fitness official Bob Dennis.
He said rates have not been set yet. Kichline said that the contract required the gym to keep the prices in line with other valley locations.
The day rate is $10 per person at the Las Vegas clubs.
The gym would boast weight-lifting and cardiovascular equipment, an aerobics room and a shower area that may include a Jacuzzi, Dennis said. The gym would sell "inexpensive workout clothing" and may offer massage services, he said.
Industry observers praised the idea and said the airport's huge passenger volume and the unique 24-hour nature of Las Vegas made the concept a good fit.
With hundreds of passengers on America West Airlines waiting for connecting flights in McCarran for lengthy middle-of-the-night layovers, a built-in clientele of bored travelers existed, they said.
"If I was going to put a health club in any airport in the U.S., Vegas would be where I would put it at," said Sheldon Klapper, president of the Center for Airport Management in Portland, Ore., an industry research firm.
Klapper said many of McCarran's passengers have control over how much time they spend in the airport.
"Once you make people realize there is that opportunity to work out, the traveler can decide when he wants to get into the airport," he said. "If I'm there on business, I can either spend another 45 minutes hanging out on the trade show floor, or I can say, 'Hey, I can get to the airport and work out.' "
The airport-gym concept is not new.
Pittsburgh International Airport opened one for travelers and employees last year through Airport Fitness Inc..
Denver International Airport has one that is used only by employees because of its location in the airport.
Airports in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and Tampa, Fla., have gyms in hotels that are connected to the airports, but travelers must leave the terminals to use them, and the gyms are not promoted for passengers and airport employees.
McCarran's 24 Hour Fitness would be entered through an elevator on the mezzanine level in the airport's most prominent concourse.
Pittsburgh has a similar setup, and that endeavor has been so successful that Airport Fitness President Mike Michno has plans to open others in Philadelphia and Cincinnati next year.
At Michno's gyms, patrons can pay $60 for 10 visits or a $11.25 day rate. They can rent sneakers and other equipment for $4 per day. He accepts the meal vouchers airlines give to delayed passengers as an entry fee and discounts entry fees for members of US Airways' elite club and for some first-class passengers. US Airways has a hub in Pittsburgh.
Michno said 24 Hour Fitness is getting a great deal from McCarran with the airport's $900,000 investment.
Aside from that, the county's expected $200,000 per year in revenue means 24 Hour Fitness is paying about $17 per square foot, far below the $85 to $100 per square foot charged by other airports, he said.
Michno said he approached McCarran about a gym in 1997 and offered to build the room himself instead of taking county help. A McCarran official rebuffed him, he said, because of a commitment to 24 Hour Fitness.
Kichline defended the proposed contract by saying McCarran would have had to finish the room anyway for any use.
He said a poll showed a large percentage of employees were members of 24 Hour Fitness or Las Vegas Athletic Club, and the airport approached those gyms. Only 24 Hour Fitness expressed interest, he said.
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