Living Life in Coral Gables, Florida
I thought Life Time was just a gym until I moved.
Within days, anyway, during a recent visit to Miami, after hearing that the healthy lifestyle brand with fitness centers in the US and Canada had recently opened its first 14-story “live, work, play and stay” development in Coral Gables, now long and short-term stays. is open to Upon checking out, I learned that Life Time, which owns the Miami Marathon and even has its own juice, is more like bona fide health. empire, consists of a tribe of smiling, fit, happy people. I became one of those who fasted. I stayed in one of the huge complex’s 495 residences, gorgeous two-bedrooms with granite and marble finishes and boasting views down to the bay. I worked from a desk in a sleek co-working space, ate low-carb treats at Life Cafe by the expansive pool, enjoyed Aida’s ridiculously revitalizing massage at the spa, stocked my fridge with Trader Joe’s snacks. I was impressed with the complex and the well-stocked Kids Club (which offers 2.5 hours of free childcare per month, not to mention tutoring and art classes as part of the Kids Membership option).
The heart of Life Time Living: an amazing sports center
Yes, I went to the gym. No, not a gym—Life Time calls it a “luxury athletic resort”; With state-of-the-art equipment to move my muscles, trainers who literally live to get you in perfect shape, and 70 classes a week of pilates, I call it an amazing health miracle. preventing rotation.
Curious to know more about Lifetime’s ethos and its future plans for world domination — not least the expansion of its “live, work, play and stay” model to cities like Las Vegas and Chicago — I asked some questions. in the uber-charming Mark Huckaby, Regional Leasing Manager of Multifamily Operations at Life Time Living.
Living the Time of Life
What does Life Time’s slogan “love your life” mean to you? Lifetime has been around for 30 years as of July 2022. A few years ago, we did a lot of customer research and the two words most people used to describe Lifetime made them feel “healthy” and “happy.” This is our passion: empowering people to live healthy, happy lives and love their lives. Exercise, community, have a good time, find your passions, try new things – we host the NYC Triathlon, Miami Marathon, Leadville 100 Mile Run and Mountain Bike Race, Sea Otter Classic and more. We own and operate over 30 athletic events, including All this “Love Your Life!”
How incredibly amazed I was during my stay happy It’s a Life Time crew. What’s the secret to creating such a happy team tribe? That’s great of you to say. First, the people who choose to work at Life Time align with our company values and genuinely want to be with us. We have a strong training program that prepares them to succeed in any role; Life Time University is our training and development department and we create programs that help them grow in their careers with us. We have great leaders who don’t manage but really lead and get things done with their teams. Many of our General Managers or Club Directors—like Gino, who you met at Coral Gables—grew up working at Life Time. We all truly love our work and this makes for a joy-filled team.
How do you describe Life Time as a company to someone who knows nothing? Many people describe Lifetime in two ways: 1. Today’s modern country club without golf; or 2. An athletic lifestyle resort. We embraced the athletic resort because that’s really what it provides to our members and our members to each other: a place for healthy living, healthy aging and healthy fun from 90 days to 90 years. When our founder Bahram Akradi started Life Time, we were Life Time Fitness. Each of these three words had a special meaning: we have life, we have time, and we have sport. We discontinued Fitness in 2017. Over time and with Bahram’s original vision, our clubs have grown to an average of 115,000 square feet and serve the whole family with boutique-style classes, incredible personal trainers, and upscale beautiful spaces. equipment and furniture, children’s programming, a full-service spa and salon and fast-casual restaurant, outdoor and indoor aquatic centers, and more. Fitness is just one aspect of who we are, it’s not necessarily the gym – it’s basically an internal curse! Life Time has a high barrier to entry compared to low barrier clubs and our members choose to come.
From the gym to new residences and more, chart the evolution of the brand. As Life Time has grown its clubs from its first in Eagan, Minnesota to now more than 155 in 29 states and three in Toronto, many people have started exercising. and Works at Life Time. They set up shop at Life Café because their work space is flexible. We adapted by increasing our cafe spaces and adding more outlets, then adding more lounges within the club. We could also see the evolution of remote work and knew we were well positioned to create a premium coworking space like no other. We currently have eight Life Time Business destinations planned for 2022 in downtown Chicago and Atlanta. With Life Time Living, it was a complete reimagining of where and how we live, work and play. We build them in desirable areas with convenient access to restaurants, shopping, nightlife and transportation.
Why would anyone want to stay in the gym to play devil’s advocate? When we first announced the concept of Life Time Living, there was a response from thousands of people who signed up for our waiting list. Why? Because our Life Time members truly love what Life Time has to offer, and the convenience of everything in one place, access to so many amenities is highly desirable. What Life Time Village provides with our rental residences or “Stay-In” concept goes far beyond an “apartment gym”. Creating a connected living experience makes life easier in many ways – meetings, meals, classes, training, and more. “I could live in Life Time” is a phrase we’ve heard for years. No joke, we’ve been hearing this for years!
How many new homes are being built? What is so beautiful about them? Coral Gables was our first Life Time Living location. Our next locations will be Henderson, Nevada and downtown Chicago, both opening Spring. 2022. There are several others in the works for 2023: Burlington, Massachusetts and Stamford, Connecticut. We have many other possible sites to come. What makes it all so great is the community we are able to bring together. I have always thought and know that we have great members at Life Time. So being attractive enough to bring people from everywhere to Work, Live, Play, Stay – well, that alone is great. Because of how compelling our concept is, we’re also getting Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods signed on to be a part of this community.