Wanganui and another organisation are in a last-ditch sprint to secure the future of the UCOL Fitness Centre.
Sport Wanganui CEO Danny Jonas said he had been inundated with messages from people saying the gym must be saved. Whanganui UCOL has announced it wants to close the fitness centre on December
31, because its sport students can train elsewhere and running a commercial gym is not its core business.
The centre has 840 members, and has been making a financial loss. It is one of Wanganui's most affordable gyms and is used by many older people.
The building cannot be bought, because it is landbanked for possible Treaty of Waitangi settlement. Property management and valuation company Darroch is managing it under contract to the Office of Treaty Settlements.
Mr Jonas said the lease would be put up for tender and other parties were interested.
Fitness Centre member Murray Shaw was one who had expressed an interest in being involved. He said he was now backing Sport Wanganui, because it would keep the gym affordable.
The other organisation Mr Jonas is working with is local and non-profit. He said it did not want to be named. If the organisations succeeded in keeping the gym open, they aimed to keep it running as it was now.
Mr Jonas said managing a facility would be nothing new for Sport Wanganui - it already ran the Splash Centre and used to run a gym. He wasn't sure whether the four full-time and four part-time jobs at the UCOL Fitness Centre could be saved.
As well as leasing the building, the new managers would need equipment, which he said UCOL may be willing to either give away or sell cheaply.
Carla Langmead, a wellness coach at the gym, said she hoped Mr Jonas could stitch together a deal.
"At the moment we are going in no definite direction. It's a matter of 'watch this space'. So I wish Mr Jonas every success," she said.
