Saratoga Health & Wellness Aims for Fall Opening
By Colette Linton
WILTON— Owners of Saratoga Health & Wellness announced their plans for the construction of a new facility, moving out of the present and into a new location, for which they plan to break ground ahead of summer.
The new facility will be located at 538 Maple Avenue, and is expected to be open in late fall of this year.
Owners and physiologists of Saratoga Health & Wellness Michael Lapolla and Nicholas Galuardi have been in the planning stages for the past year for an expansion project with the goal of owning property and having more control of their business destiny, they wrote in a press release.
The new facility is to offer the same experience that customers have come to expect from the four-and-a-half-year-old business such as a relaxed fitness environment, wellness and nutrition consulting services, professional and degreed staff members, and “plenty of room to move around,” Lapolla said.
New programs may become available along with the new facility as a result of client recommendations and requests. One such possibility would be to include more educational space and group instruction such as pilates, tai chi and yoga.
A mezzanine, a key feature in providing additional space in the gym and consulting area, will house office space.
“In this way we free up more of that valuable square footage,” Lapolla said. “That's one of the things our customers like is that there's a lot of room to move around. It's more of a homey feel and we want to keep that kind of atmosphere.”
The planned facility will be about 23 percent larger than their current gym located at 30 Gick Road in Saratoga Springs, or 9,000 square feet. In addition, there will be 5,000 to 6,000 square feet of leasable tenant spaces.
Lapolla said that it's important to bring a health and wellness community to the facility by housing businesses in related fields in the tenant spaces in order to help create the desired atmosphere for a beneficial give and take between health care specialties.
“I think that what we try to bring to the community is make the idea of improving your health more accessible to more people, and people generally come to our facility because they are looking for the noncompetitive atmosphere and it's what we try to offer,” he said.
Saratoga Health and Wellness will remain at its current location until its lease ends in October.
LaMarco Physical Therapy will be joining the Saratoga Health and Wellness center in their move to Wilton. LaMarco Physical Therapy has been working with the health center for about three years and plans to occupy a space on the first floor of the new facility.
“It’s a great relationship, a great marriage between an injured and ageing population that continues to be more physically fit and more aware of being physically fit,” said James Markwica, owner and physical therapist at LaMarco Physical Therapy. “We’ll be helping to maintain their health so that they can continue to their (clients’) activities and gym membership.”