Innovations - IHRSA

Ron Pollard Ron Pollard
Upbeat
in a Downbeat
Economy
By Jean suffin
ABouT To BeGin. BuT J mADDen wAs DeTermineD To lAuncH A new cluB.
J Madden, the owner of two landmark Colorado
facilities—the Greenwood Athletic and Tennis Club,
in Greenwood Village, and Pura Vida Fitness and
Spa, in Denver—is the first to admit that, if he’d
known anything about the fitness industry… things
might not have worked out so well.
But they did—remarkably well.
Joining the John Madden Company, his father’s
commercial real-estate development firm, immediately
after graduating from college, he rose
through the ranks, from “the bottom” to president
and partner, until, in the mid-’80s, health clubs
caught his attention.
He had no fitness background, knew little about
the business, had never attended an industry
conference, and, to this day, does nearly no
networking with other club operators. What he
did have was an intense interest, a strong set
of personal and management skills, and an
irresistible sense of adventure.
“My dad gave me an incredible opportunity to
learn not only about the art of office-building
development, but also about the creative process
that goes hand-in-glove with the financial risks
and potential rewards involved,” says Madden.
“Fostering one’s creativity and a certain appetite
for risk—that’s the chemistry my dad imparted.”
The result of his new fascination, unveiled to the
world in 1987, was the Greenwood Athletic and
Tennis Club (GATC). The multipurpose, resort-like
facility had 2,000 members the day it opened, and,
now, 23 eventful and rewarding years later, boasts
more than 4,000 memberships. The complex currently
encompasses a 90,000-square-foot fitness
center, a 52,000-square-foot tennis building, and
three outdoor pools, and generates $11.2 million in
revenues a year. (For more on GATC, see “IHRSA-
CBI Club Photo Competition,” March CBI, pg. 47.)
GATC may have been eminently successful, but
Madden wasn’t quite satisfied. Sensing dwindling
prospects for massive suburban fitness centers,
he began to mull over urban possibilities. “I asked
myself, ‘If you had the chance to start with a clean
slate, what would you do? Would you buy some
land in the suburbs and compete with giant
clubs… or create a special urban brand?’”
The question virtually answered itself when the
Tattered Cover, a bookstore with an international >
www.ihrsa.org | APrIL 2010 | Club Business International 31