New Athletic Club and Co-Working Space Aims to Turn Houston’s GreenStreet Into a Luxury Destination

Downtown’s GreenStreet is taking on a life of its own with the addition of a new luxury athletic club and co-working space. The developers hope that it grows into something that only comes around once in a Life Time.

The Life Time brand, which first set roots in Houston in CityCentre over a decade ago, is expanding to the mixed-use complex at 1201 Main with plans to open in 2020.

“We’re expanding pretty rapidly in Houston. We’re excited about everything that’s happening in Houston, not just the Innovation Corridor, but the resurgence of all of Downtown,” Life Time executive vice president of real estate and development Parham Javaheri tells PaperCity.

“We’re building an urban country club for the Downtown area. It’s just a perfect match.”

The center has 56,000 square feet dedicated to fitness, with the vast majority of amenities available at other Life Time outposts — the location prohibited indoor swimming pools, a basketball court and tennis court — and 38,000 square feet of co-working space.

The concept of Life Time extends far beyond your typical gym.

“We consider ‘gym’ a swear word here at Life Time. We’re so much more than what you think of when you think of a gym, where you walk into a room with equipment, maybe some trainers. You maybe pay a monthly fee and basically the owners hope you never come in and they can just collect your dollars,” Life Time senior director of public relations and internal communications Natalie Bushaw says.

“At Life Time, you’re not only paying $10 a month. You’re paying a premium to come because the experience you’re getting is so much more than a gym.”

The holistic healthy living approach calls for a mixture of fitness amenities alongside programs for adults and children.

You can expect dedicated studios for group fitness, cycling, yoga and Pilates programming; more than 400 pieces of cutting edge resistance and cardiovascular training equipment; The Zone, which is a space dedicated to metabolic assessments, nutrition coaching and physical therapy care; LifeCafe; LifeSpa with hair care, nail care and massages and luxurious dressing rooms.

“Life Time — it’s our life, it’s how we spend our time and it’s what we do with our fitness. Life Time was never intended to solely be about fitness, but what we’re doing with our lives,” Bushaw says.

“From an adult side, we really engage our members to understand what they want to do, what their goals are — so much more than losing weight or getting strong. Maybe they want to train for their first 5L, or do a marathon or a Spartan race. Or maybe they just want to be healthier so they can be around for their grandchildren.”

Life Time developed the Kids Academy for children aged three months to 11 years. It’s included in the kids membership, and it’s not just taking your kids and putting them in a room for an hour while you take a spin class.

“We’re actually engaging the kids in healthy habits and teaching them life skills. They’re doing things like yoga, karata, Zumba. They might be doing homework help or arts and crafts, and we do Spanish immersion,” Bushaw says.

Parents’ Night Out is another option, where Life Time entertains children for a four-hour stint on Saturday nights while parents either exercise or hit the town.

There are even healthy living programs with a cocktail hour.

“At a number of our clubs these days we have our liquor license. Some people might think whoa, that’s a little crazy that you have an athletic club but you have a liquor license,” Bushaw says.

“But the social aspect of healthy, happy living does have a cocktail. We do events where the whole idea of community comes together like a Vinyasa and Vino evening.”

For those of you who just can’t wait for the GreenStreet location, there is also a new Life Time Greenway opening. You can expect 80,000 square feet of premier amenities, a major pool and a mix of diverse programming.

Maybe you really can do it all in this lifetime.