CRESSONA — Planet Fitness is coming to the Cressona Mall.
“They are going into the former Ames space,” RoseAnn Svrcek, property manager with Metro Commercial, the property management company, said Thursday.
Prior to Ames, the location was home of the Hills department store.
She said a lease for the 23,256-square-foot empty space was signed May 6 and is until Oct. 20, 2027, between Planet Fitness and JPMCC 2005-CIBC13 Route 61 South Limited Partnership, which is listed as the owner of the mall, according to the online Schuylkill County Parcel Locator.
“All leases are different,” she said.
She said the effort to bring Planet Fitness has been at least a year in the making.
She didn’t know the opening date but said it might be “early fall.” Svrcek said work has to be done on site prior to the opening.
“They’ve had architects here throughout the last couple of weeks,” she said.
Barbara G. Miller, secretary/treasurer for North Manheim Township, said no applications or plans were submitted to the township that she knows of yet.
This will be the first Planet Fitness location in Schuylkill County. There are 27 locations in the state, according to www.planetfitness.com. Some nearby locations include Reading, Lancaster, Lebanon and York. There are more than 1,100 locations in 47 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada and the Dominican Republic, according to the company. Generally, the locations are open 24 hours. Memberships are either $10 a month or $19.99 depending on what level of membership is selected.
A media relations person did not return calls or an email for comment.
Svrcek said the addition of a new tenant to the mall is welcome news and thinks people in the county will be excited.
“It’s going to be huge,” she said.
The addition of Planet Fitness to the mall will leave six empty storefronts. The mall currently has 21 tenants. Svrcek said spaces have been shown to interested people, but she is not aware of any other prospective tenants at this time.