Fit Focus to open soon

Brandon Borghi stands inside his Fit Focus athletic club, set to open next month in downtown Laconia. Plans to put a workout facility in the 30,000-square-foot space were first made more than eight years ago. (Rick Green/Laconia Daily Sun)

Downtown athletic facility overcomes 8-year delay

By RICK GREEN, LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — After eight years of delays, a large downtown athletic club should finally open next month, its owners said during a tour of the facility.

The 30,000-square-foot Fit Focus is on the privately owned ground floor of the city's 1970s-era parking garage. The club is owned by Steve Borghi and his son, Brandon.

It is in the same space where Steve Borghi's plans for a similar venture failed to materialize in 2009.

The club has rows and rows of cardio and weight machines, multiple racks of free weights, a child care area, a women-only workout area, rooms for spin and other classes, saunas, places for stretching, television screens throughout, even a waterfall.

Monthly prices for membership will start at $20 once the club opens, said Brandon Borghi, who will operate the business.

He said local workout clubs tend to be small and not nearly this elaborate.

“Laconia has 16,000 people and there seems to be a need for this around here,” he said. “We're hoping to bring a lot of people to this place.”

The idea is to have more than enough exercise machines.

“There are 12 places to do pullups,” he said. “We don't want people to have to wait for anything.”

Steve Borghi, of Alton Bay, is helping with the financial resources for the project and his son has come up with many of the ideas for the club. The workout equipment is worth $2 million and $1 million was spent on the interior.

They have a long-term lease on the property and an option to buy from its owner, Daniel DiSangro of Roslindale, Massachusetts.

One of the question marks for the club is the long-term viability of the garage under which it is located. While the ground floor space utilized by the club is privately owned, the parking areas in the three-story structure are owned by the city.

The garage itself is not in good condition. Exposed steel beams show signs of corrosion, temporary wood supports can be seen in some areas and the top deck has been closed because of problems with a ramp.

Estimates to fix the structure are upwards of $3 million, but some local leaders, including Councilor David Bownes, say it would be best to simply tear it down and build a new one. Others favor fixing the existing structure.

Steve Borghi's history with the property dates to 2008, when he purchased it in partnership with DiSangro and others. His plans to open the athletic club in 2009 did not materialize.

People complained that they had paid for memberships in a club that never opened.

Borghi ended up pleading guilty to violations of the Consumer Protection Act and received a suspended sentence, was fined $15,000 and was ordered to refund 240 memberships.

At the time, Borghi called the violations technical in nature, saying they stemmed from failure to put membership money in a special account and noted that those who bought memberships got their money back.

After separate litigation, DiSangro emerged as owner of the property.

Borghi later announced he was leasing the space to finally open the club. In January, he said it would be open in four to six weeks.

His son, Brandon, said that prediction came before a decision was made to make major interior revisions, which have been underway now for months.

Brandon Borghi adjusts a workout machine in his Fit Focus club downtown. The facility is to open next month, more than eight years after it was first proposed. (Rick Green/Laconia Daily Sun)