World Gym Coming to Nashville’s North Gulch Building
Posted: July 27, 2016 in Suppliers
World Gym
NASHVILLE, TN – The North Gulch building, formerly home to Music City Auction, is being converted into World Gym Music City, the first Nashville location under that global fitness center brand.
Gulch resident Johnny Wilkins will own the 25,000-square-foot gym, which is expected to open next year.
The expansion is the latest for World Gym International, a global brand for bodybuilding and “seriously fun fitness” that added 11 gyms worldwide in the recent second quarter.
Deceased legendary bodybuilder Joe Gold, who opened the first Gold’s Gym, founded the World Gym brand 40 years ago during the glory days of “Muscle Beach” in Santa Monica.
Nashville-based architecture firm ESa is helping Wilkins with converting the leased North Gulch building into the two-floor World Gym Music City.
The gym’s equipment and training facilities will include cardio equipment, strength machines, group cardio and training rooms, stand-up tanning, massage lounges, weights, cable machines, leverage machines, spin and locker rooms and a retail offering with supplements, clothing and grab-and-go items.
Wilkins, a self-described gym rat with a business background who moved here from Illinois two and half years ago, said he fell in love with fitness after being obese for the first 20 years of his life.
“Working out is my passion, my leisure and my therapy,” he said.
Upon moving to the Gulch, Wilkins said he was disappointed in his options for a full-service gym.
“Living in such an exciting and vibrant neighborhood, I decided there needed to be an equally enjoyable gym experience downtown,” he said. “I’m looking forward to sharing my passion and World Gym’s commitment to fitness with Nashville.”
Crossfit Gulch, Pure Barre – The Gulch, barre3 Nashville, Barry’s Bootcamp and HOTBOX Fitness are among gyms and fitness-related businesses already in the Gulch area.
The North Gulch building that World Gym Music City will occupy fronts Interstate 40/65. It is across the street from where Atlanta-based Pollack Shores Real Estate Group is developing a 367-unit apartment complex with 9,000 square feet of retail and a parking garage.
Matthew Wilson of Gateway Property Services represented Wilkins and World Gym in negotiating the lease of 114 George L. Davis Blvd. Broker Charlie Gibson of Cushman & Wakefield Nashville represented landlord 114 RE Investment LLC, which bought the building in January.
–By: Getahn Ward of The Tennessean
