The Punahou Fitness & Spa, whose abrupt closure in August left hundreds of members in limbo, is slated to reopen in early October under a new owner and name.
Jason Maxwell, a longtime personal trainer, is continuing the legacy of the state’s longest-operating gym at 1212 Punahou St., hoping to reopen the facility as Punahou Fitness Center as early as Oct. 1.
The 42-year-old owner of Max Fitness in Kakaako has teamed up with his client Danny Graham, chief executive officer and founder of Graham Builders, to renovate the 10,000-square-foot facility that had roughly 1,500 active members when it closed Aug. 3.
Graham is investing more than $300,000 for improvements to the worn gym, and Maxwell will use his expertise to breathe new life into the facility that includes a swimming pool and spa, jacuzzi, ice plunge,steam room and sauna.
"The place needs a new face. We’re bringing a new personality to the gym and a new positive outlook," said Maxwell, who previously operated an independent training business in a small room downstairs. "It’s just been existing. There hasn’t been anything progressive about it or fun, so we’re going to change the atmosphere and bring our fitness savvy to this place to make it a little bit more brighter place to come."
Representatives of previous gym owner Trisys Hawaii Corp. couldn’t be reached for comment. Maxwell said Trisys never filed for bankruptcy, contrary to previous news reports, and didn’t know the reason for the sudden closure.
He is negotiating an agreement with the previous owner to take over contracts for about 350 members who paid for a year’s worth of membership and plans to extend their terms for the months the gym was closed. Former members on month-to-month contracts will be offered free 15-day trial memberships, which monthly will range between $35 and $45.
"I want to make sure nobody loses what they paid for," he said, adding that those members with annual memberships have anywhere from one to six months left on their contracts. "I had more than 250 to 300 individual emails from people who really want to come back. This particular spa has been iconic in Hawaii. It was probably the first and original fitness gym in Hawaii."
Maxwell plans to initially operate as a mom-and-pop business with a handful of staff and a half-dozen trainers, eventually expanding to 10 to 15 employees as the business grows.
The gym has had a string of owners since first opening in 1974 as Spa Fitness Center and has seen increased competition as larger chains entering Hawaii vie for a share of the market.
Maxwell will target the 40-years-old-and-older demographic and has agreed to offer Kaiser Permanente Hawaii’s Silver and Fit program, which allows health plan members to use the gym and participate in classes structured by the health maintenance organization. He also will close his 1,200-square-foot Max Fitness studio at the end of this month and relocate his personal training business with about 20clients to the center.
"We’re not trying to compete with 24-Hour Fitness or other streamline gyms in Honolulu," he said. "There’s enough people interested in being fit to go around. With the fitness boom now, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to make it with the gym. (We’re targeting) the more mature crowd and will make it a more comfortable place for more mature people to come. It’s a family environment. When one person calls me, 10 people know about it."
Maxwell has experienced the dramatic closure of an established gym in the past. Before Punahou Fitness and Spa shut down, he was assistant general manager at Gold’s Gym, which closed in 2008.
"It’s dramatic — people who come to the gym, they live here," said Maxwell, who first came to the Punahou Street gym as a teenager. "People were crying outside (when Punahou Fitness and Spa closed). People have been coming here for 40 years since the 1970s."
The fitness center has been like a second home, particularly for elderly members who live nearby and frequent it as part of their weekly routine, he said.
"This area has a lot of older people, and for them to have to travel to anywhere outside of a 5-mile demographic, it’s tough," Maxwell said. "These are people who need to work out and train in order to stay alive. You take it away and it gets them out of their normal routine. They don’t know what to do, where to go. They end up at another gym, and they’re totally out of their comfort zone."
