FeedsCenter falls short of membership
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On the opening day of the Romulus Athletic Center, residents lined up in droves to sign up for memberships.Four months since the city opened the Romulus Athletic Center, memberships and funds flowing into the Wayne Road facility have not met original expectations.
To date, the center has about 1,500 members, which is down from the number the city needs to operate the center without seed money from the Tax Increment Finance Authority (TIFA), said Mayor Alan Lambert Tuesday.
“I really though that we would have 1,700 or 1,800 members by now, but because of the economy, that hasn’t happened,” he said. “We may ask for money from the TIFA – thank God we have a lot of money in our TIFA – shortly.”
Tim Keyes, city economic development director, said it’s too early to say if those funds should be requested at this time.
“Right now, we’re 120 days into this, and I think we have about 25 percent of our expected membership (for the first year) in, so I think we’re doing pretty well.
“We’re looking at the funds on a week-by-week basis right now,” he said.
Extra funds would help pay for costs associated with the facility, including the management contract, employee payroll, utilities and other associated expenditures.
Not disappointed
The athletic center opened in April with much fanfare after about three years of work renovating the former Overhead Crane warehouse facility.
The facility – one of the largest municipal athletic centers in Wayne County – boasts several individual gyms, exercise room, basketball courts, swimming pools, an indoor track, and a rock climbing wall, nautilus equipment and a café.
The TIFA placed $500,000 in recreation department coffers prior to the opening to make sure operations at the facility went smoothly.
The intent was for membership fees and dues to pay all operating costs beyond the original endowment, Lambert said. However, he said more time might be required to make that happen.
“It’s like trying to start up any new business,” he said. “There’s a lot of trial and error. There are some costs that are coming up now that may have been underestimated by the management company, but they’re the kind of things you wouldn’t know about until you got into the facility.”
Weather conditions may have impacted center membership, as summer and seasonable temperatures arrived shortly after the opening.
“Summer is typically not a good time for a gym, so we’re hoping to see a new push for membership in the fall, sometime after Labor Day.”
Keyes agreed, and said the winter enrollment may give officials a better idea of whether more funds will be needed.
“Basically, we started this in the dog days of summer,” he said. “We also didn’t have a huge marketing campaign.”
Right now, staff members are tracking seasonal usage in specific areas of the gym – like the swimming pool – to see if resources can be adjusted upward and downward to match needs, Lambert said.
“If we only have two people in the pool in the summer, we don’t want to have eight lifeguards there,” he said.
Members happy
Kristin Irwin, the director of Romulus Parks and Recreation, said members have told her they’re happy with the facility.
“Everyone that comes in here seems to be happy with the activities at the center,” she said.
However, officials are leaving to little to chance in terms of membership, and are prepared to roll out special incentives in a marketing plan to lure more members.
A mass mailing will be sent out to non-members in Romulus and at least five other surrounding communities to advertise specials at the center.
Incentives such as a free personal training hour will be offered to new members. Weight Watchers services will begin on Sept. 8, and the center management are organizing several contests to members who lose weight through that program, Lambert said.
The efforts – and a thorough analysis about resource usage at the center – will provide a better snapshot of current financial needs, Keyes said.
“I think we need to look at where the money is going, what is needed, and how we can make changes before we ask anybody for anything.”
