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Orangetheory Fitness bringing workout craze to Baton Rouge’s Towne Center    

Orangetheory Fitness, the workout craze exploding across the country since 2010, is coming to Baton Rouge’s Towne Center in early 2016.

The workout focuses on heart rate monitoring coupled with circuit and interval training that pushes people to reach the “orange zone”—when the heart starts beating at 84%, its max rate—and leads to “afterburn,” whereby the body continues to burn calories for 24 to 36 hours after the workout.

“We’re crazy excited about what we’re bringing here,” says Baton Rouge franchisee Scott Russell, who will co-own the the business with his wife, Lisa Russell.

The couple is hoping to begin construction in the next four to six weeks and open by the beginning of February in the space next to Banana Republic. The fitness center will feature three stations—treadmills, rowing machines and free weights—that clients rotate through during the one-hour workout.

Workout sessions will be offered beginning at 5:30 a.m. and continue to 8:30 p.m., with roughly 15 minutes in between each one-hour session. The heart rate monitors each client wears display heart rates on a large screen so trainers during each session can see if everyone has reached the orange zone.

The timing of the store’s opening is fortuitous: Orangetheory recently named Lolo Jones, the former LSU track standout and Olympian, as the new face and voice of Orangetheory Fitness, Scott Russell says.

The road to opening Orangetheory began while Scott Russell worked at his former job, Kimble Development, which is building a $2.4-million shopping center at 18100 Jefferson Highway near Hoo Shoo Too Road. The Russells initially wanted to build a health center in the shopping center, but a chance discussion over coffee led to a change of plans when someone mentioned Orangetheory Fitness.

After that conversation, Scott Russell delved into researching Orangetheory, loved what he saw and signed on with the Florida-based company to open the Baton Rouge location. Scott Russell says the Orangetheory Fitness corporate office is picky about where it opens a new location and likes the Towne Center location because of its centrality.

Once construction begins, the Russells will begin preselling membership packages at a discounted price. The company does not advertise the membership prices, but Russell says if a person attends three sessions each week for a month, the monthly cost will come out to about $12 per session at the full rate. He would not say how much the discount will be during presale period but hints that it is sizable.

If the Towne Center location does well, Scott Russell says they could open two more locations in other parts of the Capital City. Orangetheory is also opening a location in New Orleans.  https://www.businessreport.com/article/orangetheory-fitness-bringing-workout-craze-baton-rouges-towne-center

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Edited by greg225
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  • 5 months later...

Owners plan to step up Towne Center marketing

Towne Center has a lot to offer, he said. The 370,000-square-foot development has a convenient location and is home to a number of premier local and national tenants, including Whole Foods, Gap, Fleming’s Steakhouse, Banana Republic, P.F. Chang’s, Books-A-Million, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, and Zea.

Although the center is 95 percent leased, the sheer size of Towne Center means there’s about 18,000 square feet of available space. Most of it is in the locations that had been occupied by Coldwater Creek, which went out of business in 2014, and Starbucks, which moved to a new location on Corporate Boulevard about a year ago. That location features a drive-through window.

Plans are to bring a restaurant into the former Starbucks location to take advantage of the available space for outdoor seating, James said.

“The beauty of the center is the combination of good national tenants and startup local guys,” he said. “These are brands that people are familiar with (that) they can see and not have to drive all the way to the mall.”

http://theadvocate.com/home/15234427-125/owners-plan-to-step-up-towne-center-marketing

aerial of about 3/4 of Towne Center

Advocate staff file photo -- The owners of the Towne Center shopping complex at Jefferson Highway and Corporate Boulevard plan to increase marketing efforts for the mixed-use development and bring in new tenants.

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On 3/20/2016 at 7:38 PM, Antrell Williams said:

That ocean of concrete..

I'm hoping that the trees mature and create some kind of canopy there eventually.   A little more green space would have been appreciated though.

There's a lot of concrete there but they did to a fantastic job with the landscaping.    Lots of oaks, myrtles, and Japanese Maples in the mix.   It will look very nice as they mature.   

Edited by cajun
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Towne Center is very nice....but  has an odd configuration...Jefferson Hwy with it's sharp curve  made this development almost resemble a Power Center instead...expected more from the Houston company that built this...the residential is detached from the development...No sidewalks on Jefferson Hwy either...walking trails could have gone behind connecting it near Books-a-Million

Wish there could be a "Do-over"  with a blank canvas...some elements like Perkins Rowe....& a Main Street like setting...like Antrell said some mid-rise residential lofts on top of the retail...along w parking garage

Too see the section of Corporate Blvd near Commerce Circle still undeveloped speaks volumes...figured post Katrina the twin office buildings(think they were to be at least 5-stories each) would have been built & quickly filled up...yet today it's just a large swatch of green grass

Edited by richyb83
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9 minutes ago, mr. bernham said:

Yeah, you guys are very, very correct. 

Towne Center and that area in general could be so much more walkable/green. To be honest, I think the potential still exists. 

I do too.

It would be nice to turn CitiPlace and Towne Center into pedestrian friendly centers and turn Corporate Blvd into a long park/bike trial greenspace that connects to the apartment buildings and retail areas. 

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On 3/22/2016 at 3:41 PM, richyb83 said:

No sidewalks on Jefferson Hwy either...

Actually the developer build sidewalks along Jefferson and Corporate during construction.    Are you thinking of the old Rite Aid?

I agree that the format of Town Center could have been better, but I do like the effort they put into landscaping, lighting, and the signage.   I can't stand a bunch of towering, back lit signs.   They got a few things right even if it isn't perfect. 

Edited by cajun
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5 hours ago, cajun said:

Actually the developer build sidewalks along Jefferson and Corporate during construction.    Are you thinking of the old Rite Aid?

I agree that the format of Town Center could have been better, but I do like the effort they put into landscaping, lighting, and the signage.   I can't stand a bunch of towering, back lit signs.   They got a few things right even if it isn't perfect. 

Agreed. It is a good looking development. Also seemed to help the adjacent shopping center where Apricot Lane is.

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On 3/24/2016 at 10:17 PM, Antrell Williams said:

I do too.

It would be nice to turn CitiPlace and Towne Center into pedestrian friendly centers and turn Corporate Blvd into a long park/bike trial greenspace that connects to the apartment buildings and retail areas. 

This would be brilliant. 

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On 3/25/2016 at 9:16 PM, Antrell Williams said:

Agreed. It is a good looking development. Also seemed to help the adjacent shopping center where Apricot Lane is.

Remember the old K&B there?

Rite Aid bought out the K&B chain in the 1990s.  That's a very sore subject for a lot of older Louisiana people...many of whom refuse to set foot in any Rite Aid even today (instead opting for Walgreens or other local stores).   K&B was superior to Rite Aid in every way too.  

Rite Aid probably didn't think that buying a local chain would end up feeding more business to Walgreens.   

Edited by cajun
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8 hours ago, cajun said:

Remember the old K&B there?

Rite Aid bought out the K&B chain in the 1990s.  That's a very sore subject for a lot of older Louisiana people...many of whom refuse to set foot in any Rite Aid even today (instead opting for Walgreens or other local stores).   K&B was superior to Rite Aid in every way too.  

Rite Aid probably didn't think that buying a local chain would end up feeding more business to Walgreens.   

I'm sure I'm too young to remember that haha. My mom tells me about K & B all the time though. 

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  • 1 year later...
  • 7 months later...
  • 1 month later...

 

 

This open tract of open land of well manicured grass was originally slated to have twin 5 or 6 story office towers...good to see some finally get built.

High-end retail development near Towne Center in early planning stages

Preliminary plans are in the works for a new retail center on Corporate Boulevard near Towne Center.

Real estate broker George Kurz of Kurz and Hebert Commercial Real Estate is advertising space for lease in a new development that would be called Corporate Point. The shopping center would contain 30,000-square feet of restaurant and retail space and be located on a 3.5-acre tract of undeveloped land located between The Reserve condominium complex at Towne Center and the MidSouth Bank branch at 6919 Corporate Blvd.

Rest of article

https://www.businessreport.com/article/high-end-retail-development-near-towne-center-early-planning-stages

Edited by richyb83
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^ Actually, I don't think it's that land. It's the western most piece of land abutting that apartment complex. There's been a sign on the land for a few years saying it was going to become a retail development.

Edited by dan326
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^No prob. I think I may have posted the pic once before. It looked pretty similar. Beige stucco with a flat roof, of course I guess that's the old design now. Unfortunately I think the Mall of LA is starting to go down so I think Towne Center is going to be the "new" mall.

Edited by dan326
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That would be a good spot for a Capital Grille or Seasons 52.   That area seems to attract mid-higher end chain retailers and restaurants.    Both of those would do very well there.

Edited by cajun
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