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Gym owners pump up their pockets

By Farnoosh Torabi | STAFF WRITER

October 22, 2007

A recent yellow pages search finds more than 500 health clubs and gyms listed in New York City. Despite this, one early-stage independent gym is managing to create a niche on the Upper East Side at 403 E. 91st St.

Friends Sean Kelleher and Denis Barry opened Edge Gyms in April 2006 with the help of silent partner Jim Chanos. In a year and a half, the two-floor fitness club has enrolled about 350 members, consisting of everyone from professional and Olympic athletes to women and students.

³The research shows that New Yorkers have a high usability of gyms,² says Kelleher. ³With that premise we designed a gym they want to work out in.² The 10,000 square-foot facility has a warmness to it, with exposed brick, high beams, Basquiat paintings and impressive sunlight. The gym has cardiovascular machines and a weight room, in addition to a premium Olympic lifting platform for professional athletes and full Pilates and yoga studios.

³We designed a gym that can cover all levels of fitness from the beginner to the high-end athlete with great many demands,² says Kelleher, 48, who¹s been a licensed professional trainer since 1987. His first job found him working under Jack La Lanne, who is often referred to as the ³Godfather of Fitness.²

Kelleher later went on to work with Radu, a celebrity trainer, and clients from fashion designer Calvin Klein to Vendela, a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. Kelleher, a former track-and field-pro, has also established a specific workout for runners and helps train members of the Central Park Track Club and the Urban Athletic Club.

Meantime, Barry, 40, has an extensive professional bodybuilding background. He recently developed the gym¹s new Power Hit Program, which has helped raise membership significantly. The program is free to members and offers various, scheduled, one-on-one workouts through the week which take no more than 45 minutes.

Each workout is done with the help of a trainer until the member is ready to train on his or her own. Barry says the program also keeps members attending the club on a regular basis. ³You come to the gym because you have to train,² he says.

A one-year full-access membership runs $1,300, or one can opt for the monthly program,which costs between $80 and $100 a month. That includes yoga and Pilates as well. High school and college students receive a 25 percent discount. Separately, for $300 a month, the gym is open to independent, certified and insured trainers who can use the space as a meeting place with personal clients.

The business plans to increase membership to 400 by the end of they year and add another 100 members by next fall. ³Our belief is, if you come through our door, you¹re going to join our gym,² Kelleher said.