sections by topic to make it more accessible . please help by adding section headings in accordance with wikipedia s manual of style . august 2015 la fitness type private industry exercise health clubs founded november 1 1984 ; 31 years ago 1984 11 01 los angeles california u.s. headquarters irvine california united states website www.lafitness.com la fitness is a privately owned american health club chain with over 800 clubs across the united states and canada . the company was formed in 1984 and is based in irvine california . contents 1 history 2 expansion and acquisitions 3 references 4 gallery 5 external links history edit la fitness was founded in 1984 by founders chin yi chairman & ceo and louis welch president & ceo with one location in los angeles california . 1 official records describing the company s history and growth are few . through the mid 1990s the company expanded by acquiring under performing fitness clubs in southern california and by developing opening and operating newly constructed properties . in 1995 la fitness designed and built a new multipurpose sports and fitness club that became the company s signature model at the time . this prototypical design starts with the strength and cardio equipment free weights and group exercise room that are found in most fitness centers and adds a swimming pool and court sports basketball and racquetball in most locations to offer la fitness members a wider variety of workout options . la fitness remains a privately owned company with major ownership interests held by private equity firms seidler equity partners civc partners and madison dearborn partners . la fitness is unaffiliated with the brand that goes by the same name with clubs throughout england and one in belfast northern ireland . expansion and acquisitions edit with a successful prototype in place la fitness then expanded its in house development efforts and new club construction now accounts for the vast majority of the clubs opened every year . in 1998 with 12 proven prototype clubs in southern california and arizona the company rapidly increased the rate of new club development and began rolling out its concept into several new geographic regions across the u.s. including the sun belt the pacific northwest the mid atlantic states the northeast and the upper midwest . the rate of expansion was rapid with over 180 new clubs added from 2006 to 2009 . in 2000 the company acquired the then largest health club chain in atlanta and eventually replaced its 25 units with 14 larger prototype clubs . the company continued to build clubs in the atlanta area and currently has 26 clubs in georgia . in 2007 the company expanded outside of the united states by way of an acquisition of six fitness clubs in toronto canada . also of notable size in 2010 the company acquired ten locations in phoenix from pure fitness arizona . 2 within a year all but one of the former pure fitness clubs were closed . on november 30 2011 the company completed the acquisition of 171 clubs for 153m from bally total fitness . after the closing la fitness began closing some former bally fitness clubs near existing la fitness facilities closed due to remodeling . 3 4 on july 2 2012 the company completed the acquisition of all 33 lifestyle family fitness clubs in florida . 5 according to lifestyle ceo stuart lasher we evaluated our option to remain an independent company or to sell to a larger organization . after careful consideration the board of directors has made the decision to sell all of the lifestyle family fitness clubs in florida to la fitness . on december 23 2013 la fitness announced the acquisition of the buffalo and rochester athletic clubs in western new york . the press release read as followed the buffalo and rochester athletic clubs and la fitness announced today that they have completed a transaction whereby la fitness has purchased substantially all the assets of the four buffalo and two rochester co ed clubs . the bac rac for women clubs in both cities and the crossfit bac extreme training facility on union road in cheektowaga will continue to be operated under the bac rac umbrella . 6 on december 30 2013 they completed the acquisition of all 10 vision quest sport and fitness clubs in the greater seattle area . 7 references edit la fitness history . corporate offices & headquarters . retrieved may 28 2015 . la fitness acquires pure fitness gyms . azcentral.com . quinn dale 2011 11 29 . la fitness buys bally s locations in tucson elsewhere . azstarnet.com . retrieved 2014 01 04 . la fitness brings changes to ballys . daily breeze . lifestyle family fitness chain is sold . herald tribune . june 19 2012 . retrieved may 1 2014 . https www.lafitness.com bacrac announcement.aspx stuarty goldman 2013 12 30 . la fitness acquires seattle s vision quest sport and fitness clubs . clubindustry.com . retrieved 1 may 2014 . gallery edit la fitness new barnet london . aerial view of the la fitness signature club in irvine ca external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to la fitness . los angeles portal companies portal official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title la fitness & oldid 743938401 categories health clubs in the united statescompanies based in irvine californiaprivately held companies in the united statesprivately held companies based in californiaprivate equity portfolio companiesmadison dearborn partners companies1984 establishments in californiaamerican companies established in 1984hidden categories articles needing sections from august 2015all articles needing sectionsarticles covered by wikiproject wikify from august 2015all articles covered by wikiproject wikifycommons category with page title same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages add links this page was last modified on 12 october 2016 at 03 34 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view