Health First has announced it is closing two of its three Pro Health and Fitness locations to make room for the future.
Locations on Merritt Island near State Road 520 and on Melbourne’s Holmes Regional Medical Center campus will close to make way for Health First’s planned wellness and health villages.
The site on Merritt Island is also where Health First plans to relocate Cape Canaveral Hospital.
“Health First is pleased to announce that we are ready to begin the construction process for our new Melbourne and Merritt Island Wellness Villages,” Brian Connor, chief operations officer of Outpatient Wellness Services, said in a statement. “To do so, we are discontinuing operations of the Pro Health & Fitness Centers and other services at these two locations. Our commitment to wellness remains steadfast, and we will continue operations at Viera Pro Health.”
The Viera Pro Health location, which opened in 2008, is the last of what was once four fitness centers. Health First closed a Palm Bay location in 2017.
At the time, executives said it was because there were 11 fitness centers in a 5-mile radius to the Palm Bay location, and that since opening the fitness centers some 20 years ago, the number of options had skyrocketed.
It is unclear how many jobs will be impacted.
Health First said they would work with affected employees.
“We are working with associates impacted by this change and providing them options or helping them seek other opportunities within Health First if they choose,” a statement said.
As far as members are concerned, Health First says if Pro Health members wish to cancel their gym memberships, they can email [email protected]. All prepaid items will be refunded at the member’s request.
The Merritt Island fitness center, where the new Cape Canaveral Hospital will be located, is on a spot that once contained a business named Phar-Mor. That building was demolished in the mid-1990s to make way for Health First, which opened the 90,000-square-foot Healthplex in 1996. On the adjacent land just to the south, which is vacant, there once was a building that housed a Kmart . That building was demolished in the ’90s but nothing was ever built on that location.
No timetable was given on when the Wellness Villages or new hospital would be completed.
All of Pro Health’s fitness centers have been closed for nearly two months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gyms were not listed as businesses permitted to open as part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ first phase to reopen Florida’s economy, so there are no words yet as to when the Viera location might reopen.
“We understand the inconvenience this decision might cause. However, as we expand the Wellness Villages, we will increase easy and convenient access to high-quality wellness and healthcare for all of Brevard,” Connor said in the statement.
Walters can be reached at [email protected]