San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Life Time chain adds coworking areas
During the summer, when her children were off from school, Bethany Babcock routinely took them with her to the Life Time gym where she works out.
After dropping them off in Life Time’s child care, where they played games and exercised, Babcock headed to the cafe with her laptop to work for a few hours. Babcock, who is principal and co-owner of Foresite Commercial Real Estate, rents office space for her firm, but she said the combination of child care, Life Time’s other amenities and the opportunity to take a break from her usual digs made working there appealing.
“I looked around, and there were a lot of other parents doing the exact same thing,” Babcock said.
Babcock’s Life Time location on U.S. 281 recently added a designated coworking area with desks, tables and outlets called a “work club lounge” that is part of her membership. Besides planning to use it as a customer, she likes the company’s model as a real estate professional.
Life Time, which bills itself as a “luxury athletic country club,” has fitness classes, pools, children’s activities, food options, a spa and a host of gym equipment. To be successful, coworking operators need to provide an experience that’s better than what customers have at home or the office, Babcock said.
“They’re taking advantage of the amenities they have attached to it already,” Babcock said of the company.
At the Life Time location at The Rim shopping center, which has a similar coworking area, Cory Culp put in headphones and tuned into a virtual meeting on his iPad on a recent Monday. Culp said he was visiting his wife in San Antonio from California
and that having access to the space at Life Time made it easier to work while traveling.
“It’s pretty quiet,” Culp said of the work area.
Chanhassen, Minn.-based
Life Time launched its “Life Time Work” segment in 2017, long before the COVID-19 pandemic prompted more workers to shift to remote or hybrid work options. Adding dedicated coworking areas was a way to expand its offerings, respond to what members were searching for and keep them at its locations longer.
“The impetus was really seeing our members working within our clubs,” said James O’Reilly, vice president of Life Time Work. “In our lobbies and cafes, we noticed more and more laptops.”
Larger coworking spaces at Life Time clubs range from 30,000 to 50,000 square feet, and members pay extra for dedicated desks or private offices and conference rooms. The company has 14 such locations and is adding more. Prices, which vary depending on location and options, can range from about $500 to more than $1,600 a month on top of membership costs, Life Time’s website indicates.
Smaller “work club lounge” areas, like those at Life Time’s two San Antonio locations, are typically 1,500 to 3,000 square feet. There are no dedicated desks or offices, and access is included in customers’ memberships.
At The Rim location, members use the coworking area for meetings, signing documents and grabbing coffee or lunch with business associates, general