Crunch opening Fort Collins gym in former Miramont location

FORT COLLINS — Fort Collins is getting a new franchise location of the Crunch gym chain this fall. 

The 40,000-square-foot gym will be at 2211 S. College Ave., formerly the Miramont Lifestyle Fitness Central location that closed in 2018, and is owned by Brian Hibbard and John Armatas, who operate 18 other Crunch facilities.

“We are excited to bring the Crunch brand to Fort Collins. Crunch is for everyone, from the first-time gym-goer to the seasoned athlete,” Hibbard said in a prepared statement. “We can’t wait to help as many people as possible reach their fitness goals and ultimately change their lives for the better.”

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Crunch Fort Collins is expected to open by November. 

“We chose Fort Collins in order to serve its active community with our high value low priced model. We are tremendously excited to bring the Crunch brand to Fort Collins. Crunch is for everyone, from the first-time gym-goer to the seasoned athlete,” Crunch director of marketing Hiba Abduljawad told BizWest in an email.

There are Crunch gyms in Boulder, Colorado Springs and in several Denver-area cities. 

The franchise group plans an additional six openings this year, Abduljawad said.

Launched in the 1970s, Miramont Lifestyle Fitness was a Fort Collins-based health club chain with more than 20,000 members as recently as 2017. 

That year, founder Cliff Buchholz sold the chain to Wichita, Kansas-based Genesis Health Clubs. At the time, the company operated 44 health clubs in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Colorado.

The transaction, which allowed the gyms to keep their Miramont branding, included three Miramont health clubs in Fort Collins, including the College Avenue location, as well as Reve Fitness, located at Jessup Farm. Genesis also operates the Fort Collins Club and another health club in Loveland.

The Fort Collins health club scene has seen its share of entrants to the market since the Miramont-Genesis deal in 2017.

New clubs opened in the last half-decade include Anytime Fitness on College Avenue, 24-Hour Fitness on College Avenue and Zone Athletic on Council Tree Avenue. The 24-Hour Fitness has since closed after the company filed for bankruptcy during the COVID-19 pandemic.