Representatives from Gold’s Gym, in the lobby of the Lautenberg Building at the Aidekman Family Jewish Community Campus in Whippany, are recruiting members. Beginning Sept. 1, the fitness and health center at the facility will be run by Gold’s Gym.
Photos by Johanna Ginsberg
July 10, 2008
The privately owned Gold’s Gym is taking over fitness services at the Alex Aidekman Family Jewish Community Campus in Whippany, moving into facilities formerly operated by the JCC MetroWest.
The move, effective Sept. 1, was announced a day after the Hanover Township Board of Adjustment approved a zoning variance, and more than a year after the JCC announced it could no longer cover longstanding deficits at the Whippany facility.
JCC MetroWest will continue to run other programs at the Whippany site, including its Men at Leisure and Women at Leisure programs for seniors, as well as its Early Childhood Center.
‘This is a good thing for the community.’
Gold’s Gym has agreed to maintain the current pricing for current and former JCC members until Sept. 1, 2009, as well as the hours of operation. The owners also plan to upgrade and renovate the facility.
“This is a good thing for the community. It provides a service the JCC was providing and allows for the continuity of that service that might otherwise be lost,” said Gary Aidekman, president of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey, which owns the Whippany campus. “It provides an operator who will be paying rent and use an expanse of the building that would otherwise be dark.”
East Hanover Township approved the shift from nonprofit to for-profit management following a public meeting on July 1, granting the facility a variance. That process proved to be the most challenging part of the deal, according to Howard Menaker of North Caldwell, a former JCC president who helped UJC MetroWest negotiate the lease.
Gold’s Gym representatives have been greeting members in the lobby of the JCC since July 2.
“I think it’s win-win for everybody,” said Max Kleinman, UJC MetroWest’s executive vice president. “We’ll have excellent health and wellness programming continuing uninterrupted, facilities upgraded, located on a campus with a lot of other activities going on.”
Menaker said he is “looking forward to having the community at large served in a fashion that meets its needs.”
Changes planned by Gold’s include an expansion of the upstairs workout floor, new equipment, a spinning studio, a new child-care facility, a juice bar, renovated locker rooms, patio furniture in the pool area, and more televisions and music, according to Joe Puleo, who will own the Gold’s Gym franchise in Whippany.
The upgrade will be done in sections, beginning within approximately 60 days of moving in, and all facilities will remain open throughout the renovation, Puleo said.
Rimma Batler of Morris Plains welcomes the change to Gold’s Gym, “if it’s a way to keep everything here,” including the Israeli flags that dot the Jewish community campus.
Gold’s Gym was established in 1965 in Venice, Calif., and currently has more than 610 gyms worldwide, with 12 in New Jersey.
The facility will be open weekdays from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m.; on Saturdays from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m.; and on Sundays from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. All classes currently offered will continue. According to Puleo, all current staff will be offered positions with Gold’s Gym. They will also attempt to maintain the current atmosphere of the JCC.
“We’re taking over a family-type gym, and we plan to maintain it as a family-type gym. Gold’s Gym does have a definite flavor, and there will be people going in for serious body building; but we anticipate the majority of the membership will remain families, and that’s what we will cater to,” said Puleo.
Many users are open to the change. Rimma Batler of Morris Plains has been using the facility two to three times a week for nearly four years, ever since she moved to the area.
“If it’s a way to keep everything here and the members are here, I think it’s okay,” she said. She worries about the loss of “Jewish spirit,” but as long as the Jewish community campus continues to fly the Israeli flags in its atrium and on the premises, she’s okay with the change.
But some wonder, like Sandy Tolliver of Morris Plains, whether it will affect the “sense of community” of a fitness center operated by the JCC.
“If they are actually going to enact the policies they are describing it should be okay,” said Tolliver, who has been swimming laps in the pool at the Whippany facility for three years. “If everybody goes over to Gold’s Gym then the familiar faces will be here and it will be fun. If the familiar faces bail, then, in time, I probably will.”
Kleinman says the Jewish campus will retain its sense of community.
“The fact that there’s going to be stability there and there won’t be the uncertainty that existed until now will be a tremendous benefit to everybody,” he said.
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