Life Time will open posh gym and spa in Chula Vista in December

Promising more than your routine sweat session, the Life Time luxury fitness center under construction on a full city block in Chula Vista will open to the public in December, the company said this week.

Life Time Otay Ranch features a 26,000 square-foot workout floor with four studios for group classes, seven pickleball courts, three pools, a cafe and bar, a full spa and a kids academy with its own programming and basketball court.

It is located at 1650 Main St. W. on a 7.5-acre site in the Cota Vera master-planned community. Life Time purchased the Otay Ranch property from HomeFed Corporation for $5.1 million in November 2022, according to property records.

The 84,766-square-foot facility is the brand’s second club in San Diego County. It is described as a flagship location, emblematic of the publicly traded company’s current focus on erecting ground-up, resort-like facilities in areas where it believes there is pent-up demand.

“We’re not considered a gym. We’re an exclusive, athletic country club,” Andrew Dewey, who is the Otay Ranch club’s general manager, told the Union-Tribune. “Life Time is almost just as much of a real estate company as it is a wellness company. They do an amazing job of finding the right location in communities that are growing but also have a tremendous need for the services that we offer.”

Started in 1992 and based in Chanhassen, MN., Life Time operates 184 centers in 31 states and one Canadian province, according to regulatory filings.

At the end of June, the company had 849,643 active memberships, with its members spending, on average, $888 on monthly dues and additional services over a three-month period from April through June. During the first half of the year, Life Time raked in nearly $1.5 billion in revenue and pocketed $148.2 million in profit.

Life Time has its own development arm, started in 1998, that constructs its health and fitness facilities from the ground up or repurposes existing properties. More recently, the company has started developing luxury apartment complexes, under the Life Time Living brand, that are in close proximity to its athletic clubs.

The Otay Ranch facility is replete with amenities. The first floor of the two-level facility includes a cafe that sells coffee drinks, smoothies, wraps and bowls. There is also a lounge area with a full bar, the multi-room kids academy, a co-working space, and a full-service spa offering hair, body and nail services. In addition, the men’s and women’s locker rooms feature a sauna, steam room, warm spa and cold plunge.

Upstairs is the expansive workout floor with cardio equipment, barbells and racks, weight machines and free weights, as well as dedicated studios for barre, yoga, Pilates, and strength and conditioning group classes. Three of the property’s pickleball courts are also located inside on the second level.

Outside, Life Time’s large pool deck includes a lap pool, a lesson pool and family pool with a waterslide. There are also four outdoor pickleball courts and an outdoor bar and dining area.

The introductory rate for a single-person membership is $249 per month, although the monthly dues will likely increase based on demand, Dewey, the general manager, said. The club is currently waiving its standard $300 initiation fee. Life Time Otay Ranch also charges $50 per month per child for access to the kids academy, where parents can drop off babies, toddlers and bigger kids for up to 2.5 hours a day.

Members get access to the entire facility, but there are extra charges for food and beverages, spa services, swim lessons, pickleball lessons and personal training sessions.

In the works for several years, the Otay Ranch facility is substantially larger than company’s first local club in La Jolla, which opened in December 2019 and has been described as more boutique in nature. The company, Dewey said, selected Chula Vista as the home of its second San Diego-area club because the region is one of the fastest-growing areas in the county.

“This is our first, full-format foray into San Diego County,” Christopher Campbell, a former Life Time development project manager, told the Chula Vista Planning Commission during a September 2022 hearing on the project’s conditional use permit. “We do seek out these high-quality communities across the country. … We spend a lot of time identifying these markets where we know we can be successful.”

The club, Campbell said at the time, will generate $500,000 in annual property tax revenue for the city of Chula Vista. Including construction and operating costs, the total economic impact of the club to the community will be around $88 million, he said.

Life Time Otay Ranch is slated to open in the middle of December, a spokesperson said. The hours will be 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday; and 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.