Leading Fitness Franchise Expands into the Texas Market with the First of Over 30 New Health Clubs.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Retro Fitness, one of the fastest growing health club franchises, today announced the opening of the first clubs under Project LIFT, a new company initiative to open 500 health clubs in 50 Black and Brown communities across the country over the next 5 years. BlackRock’s Impact Opportunities Fund and James Collins, Managing Partner of Eastwood Capital Partners, together have committed to developing a minimum of 80 new Retro Fitness Health Clubs in four different regions in the country, the first of which are now open in Dallas, Texas.

“We are excited to partner with James Collins on our Project LIFT initiative and to announce the first four new health clubs in Dallas, Texas,” said Andrew Alfano, Chief Executive Officer at Retro Fitness. “This investment is the largest development deal in the history of the company, more importantly we are proud that it is about making a significant difference and giving back to Black and Brown communities.”

Retro Fitness is looking to incentivize others to take this journey with them. Project LIFT investors will benefit by receiving a waived franchise fee and 50% off year one royalties. Additionally, Retro Fitness will be donating a percentage of its royalties back to an organization within the community for the life of the business. This initiative further supports Retro Fitness’ commitment to making a lasting, profound impact on the health club industry and the communities in which they serve.

“It has been extremely gratifying working with the Retro Fitness team and seeing the first health club locations under its Project LIFT initiative come to life,” said James Collins, Managing Partner at Eastwood Capital Partners. “I’m excited to see the positive impact we make with these first locations in the greater Dallas area, and I’m even more excited to continue my partnership with the Retro Fitness team as we open more health clubs for local communities to benefit from, in more ways than one.”

As a world class franchise, Retro Fitness is one of the few franchisors in any industry that offers a true, full suite of services. In addition to real estate site selection and negotiation, construction and delivery of a true turnkey box, dedicated area managers and a Support Center for training and development, they also offer services that consist of an in-house media agency, call center, accounting services and more, all to ensure franchisees and investors are supported from the start.

The first four locations are now open in the greater Dallas area. For more information on the addresses of the new locations, please see below:

  • Mesquite-Galloway Avenue, 2524 N. Galloway Avenue, Mesquite
  • Dallas-Beltline Rd.  7989 Belt Line Road, Ste #200, Dallas
  • Richardson-Beltline Rd. 1301 E. Beltline Road, Richardson
  • Garland-Broadway Blvd. 3265 Broadway Blvd Suite 102, Garland

For more information on how to become an investor in Project LIFT, please visit RetroFitness.com/Franchising/Project-LIFT/.

About James Collins:

James Collins is an experienced private equity investor. During his 22 years of private equity investing, Collins has been an integral member of deal teams that have invested approximately $0.5 billion of equity capital in several platform investments – consumer products and retail, business services, communications, and transportation and logistics companies. Prior to working as a private equity investor, Collins worked as a strategic management consultant and mergers and acquisitions investment banker at Bain & Company, Inc. and Bowles Hollowell Connor & Co., respectively. Collins earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from Howard University and his Master in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He currently sits on corporate and not-for-profit boards of directors, including Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service, Board of Directors, chairing its Finance, Investment and Audit Committee, and serving as a member of Points of Light’s Executive Committee.

About Retro Fitness:

For nearly 20 years, Retro Fitness has been providing members with a timeless approach to exercise, health and fitness. With 200 health clubs open or in development, Retro Fitness is one of the fastest growing High Value-Low Price fitness franchises in the United States. With a new executive leadership team led by former Starbucks executive, Andrew Alfano, Retro Fitness provides investors and franchisees with a full suite of services including real estate site selection, training, in-club support, marketing services, and operations to deliver a turnkey and operational solution.