Fitness industry veteran and Locust Point native Michael Vogel recently opened Fort Fitness at 301 E. Fort Ave. in Riverside/Federal Hill. Fort Fitness will occupy a 3,800 sq. ft. lower-level space at the former hospital building that is also the home to Childtime.
Vogel discovered the building, which was also formerly the home of Sid Yoga, as a fitness-industry consultant. He helped coordinate a deal for Alex Cummings, a fitness instructor, to partner with Sid McNairy to offer her Kid Kinetics Gymnastics class at the space. However, when McNairy decided to close at the end of October, Vogel came up with a bigger idea. With the lower level space vacant, he decided to open a new gym and bring Cummings with him. With a two-year old daughter, Vogel wanted to make it a family-friendly space she could grow up in.
Vogel was the former owner of two Premier Fitness gyms in Anne Arundel County and is a personal trainer and yoga instructor. He has spent recent years training high school athletes.
Vogel quickly began a renovation of his new space, which was once an auditorium and cafeteria, by painting, installing new floors, and demolishing the former kitchen. A former stage will become the yoga room and a former kitchen will be a meditation room. The remaining space will be used for classes. There are two bathrooms. Vogel is also installing a sauna.
The programming at Fort Fitness will be family focused. Parents can join their children in classes like Mommy and Me Yoga, take an adult-level class while their child takes another class, or bring their kids to Childtime while they get in a workout. Classes include Kid Kinetics Gymnastics, Vinyassa Yoga, Boot Camp, Barre, Hip Hop Dance, and DOGA – Doggy + Me Yoga, where members can bring their dogs. Fort Fitness will also offer personal training sessions, as well as classes on the building’s rooftop deck.
Fort Fitness offers 40 classes each week which start from 5:45am to 8pm. Fort Fitness has 12 instructors, four which previously worked at Sid Yoga. Memberships are $59/month, drop-in classes are $15, and personal training sessions are $30.
Fort Fitness is the second business in the neighborhood for the Vogel family as wife Sophia Vogel owns Glow to Go Skin Bar. Sophia Vogel took over the business in 2013. It offers airbrush tanning, skin care, facials, waxing, teeth whitening, eyelash extensions, and more. Sophia Vogel is also passionate about fitness and has a background in ballet and hip hop dance. She performed in the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
The top level of the former Sid Yoga space is currently vacant.
via http://southbmore.com/2016/12/07/fort-fitness-brings-family-focused-gym-to-south-baltimore/
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