Ryse Athletic Club awarded $25,000 grant in Mundelein

A company bringing a 24-hour fitness center to Mundelein has been awarded a $25,000 municipal grant to help fund building renovations.

Ryse Athletic Club will fill vacant space at 333 Washington Blvd., in the Allanson Industrial Park. The nearly 33,000-square-foot building formerly was home to Lakeside Transportation, a school bus company.

The village board on Monday approved the grant for interior plumbing and electrical improvements. The work is expected to cost the company nearly $277,000, documents indicate.

Exterior building renovations and landscaping improvement also are planned. In all, more than $690,000 in site improvements are expected, documents indicate.

Under the village's Business Incentive Grant program, awards of up to $25,000 are available for interior improvements and up to $25,000 for exterior improvements. Grants of up to $5,000 are available for sign improvements, too.

Instead of getting the money up front, recipients are reimbursed for their expenses.

The program has a $175,000 budget for the 2027 fiscal year, which runs through next April. The grant for Ryse is the first of the fiscal year.

Ryse will offer weightlifting equipment, a basketball court, a seasonal outdoor weightlifting area, locker rooms for men and women and other amenities.

This will be Ryse Athletic Club’s second location. The first, at 5328 Grand Ave. in Gurnee, opened in 2020.

Health clubs need variations from Mundelein’s zoning rules to operate in industrial areas, and Ryse got one from the village board in April.

A company representative on Monday said he expects the facility will be ready for customers by the end of the year -- a little later than the summertime debut that originally had been proposed.

Trustee Kara Lambert sounded excited about the project.

“I will be the first one at your door,” she said.

rlissau@dailyherald.com