Owners invest $2M into Englewood gym

A group of veteran gym operators is opening a new spot in Englewood, and they say they have invested more than $2 million into it. 

Mike King and Josh Chandler are co-owners of Workout Anytime Englewood, a 15,000-square-foot facility at 455 S. Indiana Ave. in Sarasota County. Chandler is also the general manager of sister gym Workout Anytime Venice.

“It’s our biggest one yet,” says Chandler, who is part of a group that owns six Workout Anytime franchises, including two in Tennessee and two in North Carolina as well as the one in Venice. The others are all around 9,000 or 10,000 square feet, according to Chandler.

The plan is to open Workout Anytime Englewood by mid to late December, according to Chandler.

Between new machines and construction, Chandler estimates the ownership group has put around $2.2 million into the facility, which is a leased property.

The Englewood gym will feature state-of-the-art equipment, certified personal training, wellness programming, a 24-hour group fitness studio, sauna, infrared, light therapy, massage and tanning. It will also offer a first for the Workout Anytime franchise: the B.A.R. Room, which stands for “Booty, Abs, Results."

The B.A.R. Room “has got a different color to it, it has a different pop to it,” Chandler says, and is meant to be playful, with bar tables set up.

True to its name, Workout Anytime Englewood will be open 24/7. The gym will offer on-demand classes around the clock as well, with a coach interacting with participants on live TV in a fitness studio. Members "can come in at two o'clock in the morning and take a class,” Chandler says, from yoga to pilates to kickboxing,

Workout Anytime has more than 200 locations nationwide. It was founded in suburban Atlanta in 1999. The estimated initial investment to open a franchise location is $1.06 million to $1.84 million, according to the company’s website. The minimum liquid capital required is $400,000.

The company strives to have “the cleanest gym” and “the friendliest gym,” says Chandler, who is “really excited for the fact that we're going to offer something that Englewood just hasn't seen yet” in terms of services. 

Says Chandler: “I really feel like this club is going to explode.”

Before the gym opens, people can become members for $1 with a biweekly rate of $16.99.