West Dundee sports complex expanding to adjacent building

Tumbling, cheerleading and trampoline gymnastics are among the latest programs to join Lifezone 360 as owners of the West Dundee facility focus on expansion.

Operators have been securing new tenants since the sports complex opened about a year ago in a repurposed Target store at 999 W. Main St., operating partner Joe Abraham said. They recently acquired the adjacent building - a vacant Best Buy - to accommodate future growth.

In addition to its lacrosse, basketball and soccer programs, the facility is now home to a center for sports medicine, as well as a school for speed and agility training, Abraham said. Its newest tenants include the 5 Star Elite tumbling and trampoline gym and a cheerleading program called Midwest Cheer Elite.

"It's catering more and more to that youth sports model, which was our original vision to try and develop some elite athletes out of this market," he said. "We really hope Lifezone is kind of the home out of which these great athletes emerge."

Paulette Konstantaras, owner of 5 Star Elite, said the gym moved into a temporary space in Lifezone 360 in July and has since been working closely with Midwest Cheer. Her group was forced out of its former facility in Wauconda after problems surfaced between the building owner and the tenant from whom Konstantaras was subleasing, she said.

"We would've liked to stay in that area, but because we had to move so quickly, and because of the ceiling height and space we needed, it wasn't going to work," she said. "It's really hard to find a building that'll fit trampolines and a tumbling floor."

Lifezone 360 owners are building out a portion of the former Best Buy specifically for tumbling, trampoline and cheer purposes, Abraham said. The space, which will be shared by the Midwest Cheer and 5 Star groups, is expected to be complete later this fall.

"It was great timing for us that we could all go in there together," Konstantaras said.

The former Best Buy space could also eventually include baseball tunnels and equipment to accommodate a new gymnastics group, with which Lifezone owners are in negotiations, Abraham said.

The move to West Dundee hasn't been easy for 5 Star Elite, which lost about 90 percent of its nearly 200 athletes from the Wauconda facility, Konstantaras said. However, the gym has been growing exponentially over the last several weeks, she said, and new families - many of whom are from the Dundee and Carpentersville area - are expressing interest daily.

The competitive team now has 26 gymnasts, and the recreational program has more than 50. Athletes can start the program at age 4 and continue through college.

"It's a whole new area of kids," Konstantaras said. "It's a pretty big space now that we're in, and I think we can just keep expanding."