The San Francisco-based luxury health club operator has continued its shift into “active lifestyle” properties with the acquisition of the Manhattan Beach, Calif. club. The sale follows The Bay Club’s purchase in 2016 of Fairbanks Ranch Country Club and The Golf Club at Boulder Ridge.
Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach, Calif. has been sold to The Bay Club Company for $73 million in a deal that will also net the City of Manhattan Beach $730,000, the Easy Reader News of Hermosa Beach, Calif. reported.
The Bay Club Company, a San Francisco-based luxury health club operator that has been expanding regionally and also into the golf and country club markets, will take over operations of Manhattan CC at the beginning of June, Easy Reader News reported.
Little is likely to change at the club, which has been operated by owner Keith Brackpool and Managing Director Sara Neilson Sedlacek for the last 15 years, Easy Reader News reported. Over that span, the club has been thoroughly modernized—a former hotdog grill, for example, was upgraded to a full menu restaurant, and an outdated, 400-sq. ft. gym has been expanded into a state-of-the-art fitness facility.
Brackpool had planned to leave the club to his children, Sedlacek told Easy Reader News, but the Bay Club’s offer fit the direction he’d established for the club and provided growth opportunities for employees, along with added value for the members.
“We realized a stand-alone club had less to offer employees and members than a larger company’s array,” Sedlacek added. “It’s both an opportunity to leverage members into other amenities as well as for staff to have growth opportunities. We knew we needed to be part of a bigger picture. It really is a good fit.”
Annie Appel, a Bay Club Executive Vice President, told Easy Reader News that the acquisition is in keeping with the company’s strategy to increase its presence in Southern California. Two years ago, The Bay Club Company, which describes itself as an “active lifestyle” company, purchased Spectrum Clubs’ California locations in Rolling Hills Estates, Redondo Beach, and El Segundo. Last year, it acquired two other country clubs—The Golf Club at Boulder Ridge in San Jose, Calif. and Fairbanks Ranch Country Club in San Diego (http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2016/07/bay-club-company-acquires-two-california-country-clubs/)—to move further beyond the traditional fitness-club business model.
“[Acquiring Manhattan CC] is right in line with our other locations,” Appel told Easy Reader News. “It complements what we’ve done in Northern California and San Diego, really bringing to life the luxury sports-resort model to the L.A. market.
“We’ve been looking to do this since entering the marketplace with the acquisition of Spectrum,” Appel added, “[and] we will continue to look to add like properties in the region.”
“This is a stunning property,” she added about Manhattan CC.
Both Appel and Sedlacek stressed that Manhatta Country Club would maintain its exclusivity, Easy Reader News reported. The price of a family membership will be $20,000 with monthly dues of $445. Bay Club offers several tiers of memberships at most its clubs; the highest tier of membership costs $25,000 to join and $975 in monthly dues and gives access to the entire Bay Club portfolio, including the golf properties.
Manhattan CC members—about 1,500 families, Sedlacek said—will be given access to other nearby Bay Club facilities, but not vice versa, unless those members join a higher tier.
“The exclusivity stays with a Manhattan Country Club membership,” Sedlacek said.
The transfer of the ground lease to the property, which is owned by the city of Manhattan Beach, was approved unanimously by the City Council at its May 16 meeting, Easy Reader News reported. The lease actually has three components—the 50,000-sq. ft. tennis and fitness facility, a three-story, 38,000-sq. ft. office building, and a parking lot—and runs through 2043 with two 15-year club options.
The city, at the time of entering an amended lease with the club in 2003, received $15,633 per month (tied to annual CPI increases) and a percentage of gross revenues from tournaments, rentals, and food and beverage sale, Easy Reader News reported. The city also receives a $730,000 one-time transfer fee with the Bay Club purchase.
All 150 current staff members will remain at Manhattan CC, except Brackpool and Sedlacek, Easy Reader News reported.
“We set aside part of the proceeds from the sale for bonuses and to throw a nice party for them,” Sedlacek said. “We really owe so much of our success to staff, many of whom have been with us 15 to 20 years. This is as much a sign of what a successful operation they’ve been able to run as it is ours.”
The Bay Club was founded in 1977 with its flagship campus in San Francisco, Easy Reader News reported. The idea behind its recent growth has been to further merge fitness clubs with the hospitality sphere, adding restaurants, kids’ activities, and a social calendar of membership events.
“Our focus shifted about seven years ago,” Appel said. “We took a look at the membership base we have at the athletic club level and the evolution of where those members are going in their lives and the need for family playgrounds and social spaces. Really focusing on the community aspect has been the big shift, while continuing to honor fitness as the core of the business.
“But now, more than ever, people are looking for another community place to gather; we are building our campuses so they can really come to life,” she continued. “These are pretty amazing places—you can sit by a fire pit with some live music playing while the kids have ‘S’mores and you enjoy a glass of wine at the end of the day.”
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.