Idaho Athletic Club plans Blackeagle facility

Idaho Athletic Club plans to open a fourth Treasure Valley fitness club in Boise early next year on a nearly 2.5-acre in the Blackeagle Center at Blackeagle Drive and Maple Grove Road.

According to planning documents filed with the City of Boise, Idaho Athletic Club seeks a conditional permit to build a two-story, 28,600-square-foot fitness facility with a basketball court, pool, exercise equipment rooms, aerobics room and offices.

The club’s application includes a parking reduction request from 281 to 150.

Scott Freeman of Johnson Architects, Meridian, is the project’s listed designer. The Boise Planning & Zoning Commission is scheduled to hear the CUP request during a public hearing on May 5.

Shaun Wardle, Idaho Athletic Club general manager, said last week that construction would likely begin in the summer, pending city approval. He declined to divulge further details about the project. The Idaho-based company operates three Valley fitness centers in Boise, Meridian and Caldwell.

Idaho Athletic’s roots date back to 1977 when Wardle’s mother, Cheryl Wardle, launched an aerobics studio called Cheryl’s Body Shaping in Meridian Junior High School.

The business grew, eventually filling four tenant spaces in Meridian’s Cherry Plaza center, before becoming Idaho Athletic Club and moving into its first full-service fitness center at Fairview Avenue and Locust Grove Road in 1993.

The three clubs employ about 140. Membership costs average about $35 per month.