Fitness centers fill retail vacancies in Carol Stream

In Carol Stream, there's really no excuse for avoiding exercise with three new fitness centers opening in town.

Planet Fitness is the latest gym to announce plans to fill a retail vacancy as a new tenant in a Carol Stream shopping center. The New Hampshire-based chain intends to fully occupy a vacant, 29,000-square-feet-space in Geneva Plaza at the northwest corner of Geneva Road and President Street.

The Village Market Place closed there a year ago after a nearly decadelong run catering to a diverse neighborhood near the border with Wheaton. The family owners made the decision to close their mom-and-pop grocer in the face of growing competition and to focus on their remaining store in Skokie.

Another gym franchise, Orangetheory Fitness, opened a club late last month in a 5,000-square-foot tenant space in the Northland Mall anchored by Home Depot along Geneva Road. That space was previously a physical therapy office, but had been vacant for the past few years.

"Fitness uses are popular to either take over vacant grocery stores or vacant commercial spaces in general," said Tom Farace, Carol Stream's planning and economic development manager.

At a third shopping center, LA Fitness will construct a 34,000-square-foot outlet building north and west of Angelo Caputo's Fresh Markets at North Avenue and Schmale Road. The gym will have a total of about 250 proposed parking spaces east of the building.

Village trustees in August approved plans for the project at the Carol Stream Marketplace, a shopping center spread across a nearly 30-acre site. Farace said developers have applied for an engineering permit but have not yet requested a building permit to construct the new gym.

An attorney who is listed in village documents as a representative of the property owner did not immediately return a phone message Monday inquiring about a project schedule.