New Life Time center ups the ante as mall anchor

A $43 million anchor has opened at the nation’s first enclosed mall but it’s not a typical anchor — even by current standards. 

Luxury health club operator Life Time has opened a massive complex that includes a three-story, 147,000-sq.-ft. “athletic resort” at Simon’s Southdale Center, in Edina, Minn., which opened in 1963. The health club includes a rooftop beach club, indoor basketball courts, swimming pools, dedicated physical therapy and chiropractic care, a café and full-service spa.  It is open seven days a week from 4 a.m. to midnight Monday through Friday,  and from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Next door to the health club is three-story, 57,000-sq.ft. building that is home to Life Time Work, an upscale coworking space,  and Life Time Sport, which features indoor soccer fields and offers youth soccer classes and clinics.  In total, the 204,000-sq.-ft. Life Time complex will bring 3,000 to 4,000 people to Southdale Center every day, according to the company.

"Our Life Time project at Southdale Center is one of our most exciting to date for our company and brand, and also for how consumers think about—and use—shopping centers," said Bahram Akradi, founder, chairman and CEO, Life Time. "In partnership with Simon and others across the country, we're creating an entirely new approach to these ever-important locations to bring people back to these community hubs. Malls that are well-located are a great story—not a sob story."

Life Time operates 150 health clubs across the nation. As the company has grown, it has started expanding into new areas, such as  Life Time Work and the more recent announcement of high-end leased residences (Life Time Living.)  The new Life Time Work Edina location is the fourth to open nationally and second in the Twin Cities area, with plans for 50 to 60 locations to open during the next five to six years.