A former Food 4 Less grocery store that closed in North Long Beach after the City Council enacted a “hero pay” ordinance during the pandemic could get new life by partially being converted into a gym.
The Long Beach Planning Commission will meet Thursday to vote on a proposed Chuze Fitness location taking over the western portion of the former grocery store at the corner of South Street and Cherry Avenue.
Chuze’s proposal includes over 23,000 square feet of workout area as well as another 6,600 square feet of group exercise space. Other amenities that would be included at the gym include space for tanning, a sauna and a steam room.
About half of the 100,883-square-foot store would be converted into a gym if the project is approved, according to a city staff report. Planned improvements to the existing building include constructing a new wall to separate the proposed gym project and future tenants that could occupy the other half of the building.
The gym is expected to operate 24 hours per day and could create up to 30 jobs, according to the report.
A rendering of the gym shows an El Super grocery store occupying the vacant space to the east of the gym, but it’s unclear if that’s part of a future proposal. Elevated Entitlements LLC, the firm representing the Chuze Fitness project, did not respond to requests for comment.
The city’s staff report says the gym project is consistent with the recently completed UPLAN rezoning effort by the city that changed allowable land uses in North Long Beach to bring more community-serving uses to it like housing, grocery stores and gyms.
This location became available when The Kroger Co., which owns the Food 4 Less chain, announced it was shuttering that store and a Ralphs location in East Long Beach in response to the city’s hero pay ordinance.
City Councilmembers voted to adopt a $4 per hour “hero pay” increase for grocery store workers in January 2021, citing the danger that the COVID-19 pandemic injected into grocery store employees’ jobs.
The two stores closed April 17, 2021, and the site has sat vacant for nearly two years.
The Planning Commission is scheduled to meet Thursday, March 2, at 5 p.m. in the Civic Chambers, 411 W. Ocean Blvd.
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