Premium health club operator Life Time Group Holdings is buying two sprawling complexes in the Chicago suburbs as part of its ongoing expansion spree, with plans to convert one of them to a national hub for the fast-growing sport of pickleball.
Life Time is set to take over the two properties, which span almost 32 acres combined, from longtime owner Five Seasons Sports Club, the company told CoStar News
The Five Seasons properties include a long-closed, 114,174-square-foot facility on almost 17 acres of land at 1300 Techny Road in Northbrook, Illinois, and an operating,153,954-square-foot complex on 15 acres at 6901 S. Madison St. in Burr Ridge, according to CoStar data.
Five Seasons, which is part of Covington, Kentucky-based real estate and hospitality company Corporex, long operated the Chicago-area properties as part of a business model that essentially serves as family-based country clubs without golf courses, offering weight training, pools, tennis courts, and other workouts and games.
The Northbrook property is a leasehold interest in the building that sits atop land owned by the Society of the Divine Word, according to someone familiar with the property. Hundreds of acres on and around Techny Road have been redeveloped in recent decades using long-term ground leases paid to the Roman Catholic missionary order.
Life Time has a deal to buy the Chicago-area properties as both its business and interest in pickleball boom.
The company’s vast network of Chicago clubs includes existing ones in Northbrook and Burr Ridge.
In a message to members of nearby Life Time facilities, the company said it plans to refurbish the former Five Seasons in Northbrook and reopen it as a property that will “become the nation’s amateur and professional destination for the sport of pickleball.”
The message said the Burr Ridge property will offer tennis and pickleball.
A Life Time spokeswoman declined to comment on the acquisition cost, but she told CoStar News the Burr Ridge facility is expected to reopen under the Life Time brand on April 22. It will remain open during renovations, while the Northbrook site will be closed during initial renovations, she said.
Corporex declined to comment.
Pickleball growth
Plans for upgraded facilities comes as pickleball emerges as a popular amenity within residential and commercial properties and as a standalone destination for the growing army of participants.
Last year, local entrepreneurs in Raleigh, North Carolina, broke ground on what they touted as the largest racquet sports complex in the world, including plans for 25 pickleball courts.
A few months later, The Fort, described as the world’s first dedicated pickleball stadium, opened in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. That facility includes 43 pickleball courts and room for up to 2,000 spectators.
Time Life also has been getting in on the action
"Life Time went all in on pickleball in 2021 and today we own and operate 775 courts around the country," the spokeswoman said in an email. "From the surface of the courts to the design of the spaces, including lounge areas, and then the pros and coordinators we tap for programming (open play, clinics, leagues, tournaments), we have truly created a pickleball community second to none."
Chanhassen, Minnesota-based Life Time has a deal to buy the Chicago-area properties and expand its pickleball offerings after recently reporting record membership retention and revenue per membership in its fourth-quarter earnings.
The publicly traded company said it opened eight new centers during 2024, up to a total 179.
“We expect to open 10 to 12 clubs in 2025 with the ability to extend the number of openings for 2026 and 2027, given the depth of our pipeline,” the company’s founder, chairman and CEO, Bahram Akradi, said on a call with analysts, according to a transcript.
The company’s pipeline of projects, which Akradi said “has never been as strong as it is today,” will be funded in part by continuing sale-leaseback deals similar to those last year for properties in places including Colorado and Texas.
Life Time also has expended by buying existing health clubs, such as a deal in a suburban Atlanta office complex in late 2023 and the upcoming Chicago-area transactions.
The company also has combined residential and workout space in projects in places including Raleigh and Coral Gables, Florida.
“We literally have opportunities coming everywhere, urban, suburban, semi-urban buildings with apartments, buildings with office, they need Life Time traffic and brand to sort of improve the returns on those,” Akradi, according to the earnings call transcript. “We have just the traditional suburban sites in incredibly robust demographics. So we just basically are balancing.”