On a early, midweek afternoon last week, five members of the North Little Rock Community Center were raising their heart rates on some of the center's updated cardio machines, part of a $70,000 reinvestment in the 47-year-old building.
"This time of day, you'd see one person," North Little Rock Parks and Recreation Director Terry Hartwick said as he toured the revamped, second-floor cardio room. "Now we have five or six here this time of day every day."
The cardio equipment, as well as weights in an enlarged weight room on the center's ground level, is being leased for $1,432 per month over five years to update both fitness areas at the center, 2700 Willow St., which also includes a basketball court.
Community center memberships are $10 per month and $5 per month for members at least 50 years of age. The cardio and strength areas as well as a Fat Loss Boot Camp and Zumba classes are included for free in the monthly membership. The center has about 550 members, center Director Tony Pate said.
The equipment is from Second Chance Fitness, a fitness equipment sales and service company that provided a five-year warranty to fix or replace anything that breaks down. Installation was completed in late January.
"They're like new," Hartwick said. "It's all nice and clean. We had [previous] machines breaking down all the time. We have a warranty. Now we just call and they'll come and fix it for free."
The center was remodeled 10 years ago, but not much has been updated since then for members, Pate said. Both the weight room and cardio room also have new flooring and carpet.
"It had gotten pretty rough," Pate said. "We had a glued-down carpet from all the wear and tear and sweat dripping on it. We have all-new dumbbells, new racks, new free weight plates and new bars.
"In the cardio room we have six new treadmills and two new pieces that people are scared of because of how it looks," Pate said of two Pinnacle Trainers. That piece of equipment combines a stair stepper and elliptical machine for a full-body workout.
The weight-room renovation included opening up what had been a pair of closets behind a poured concrete firewall at one end of the room. That space is now exclusively for dumbbell workouts, with the heavier weights all in the original space. All weights, racks and benches had been in the one room before.
"It was a lot more clustered before," Pate said of the weight room.
Bailey Noland was on one end of the weight room early Wednesday afternoon, enjoying the openness of the room.
"There's new equipment and it's spacious -- lots of room," she said. "You used to be jockeying for space with someone. It's wonderful. I thought it was great before, but it's even better now."
Mike Turner, who said he has been a regular at the center for the past five years, praised the city's fitness center as more than comparable to private fitness clubs.
"This is as good as anybody has in any health club in town," Turner said. "I've been all over, too. They keep it all really nice. They have programs here: boot camp, exercise classes, personal training. I stick to the weights and cardio and personal training."
Another addition, Hartwick said, was that of hand sanitizers and sanitizing wipes on both ends of the workout rooms for members "to wipe down equipment" between uses.
The center's old equipment is piled on a stage at one end of the basketball court and will be auctioned off at some point, Hartwick said.
"A lot of the money we spent, we'll get back from those sales," he said.
The North Little Rock Parks and Recreation Department also manages four neighborhood community centers: Glenview, 4800 E. 19th St.; North Heights, 4801 Allen St.; Sherman Park, 624 Beech St.; and, Rose City, 400 Rose Lane. Glenview is the only neighborhood center with a small weight room. Glenview and Sherman Park each have a walking trail.
Metro on 02/20/2017