DELTA TWP. - The new owner of a more than 22,000-square-foot building off West Saginaw Highway, home to two gyms in the last few years, plans to turn the space into a gun shop and indoor shooting range by this summer.

When The Range 517 opens at 6135 W. Saginaw Hwy. it will occupy all but one 1,300-square-foot suite in the building where Great Harvest Bread Company is located.

The Range 517 will offer sales of new and used firearms, ammunition and gun safes and an indoor shooting range with 12 lanes, new owner Eric Haddad said. Private instruction and classes will be offered on site, he said.

"When it's done it's going to be a state-of-the-art facility," Haddad, a 2003 graduate of Lansing Catholic High School, said.

There's a need in the Lansing area for more places where gun owners can shoot both handguns and rifles, he said.

"We have 600,000 people in a 30-mile radius and a large portion of those people are gun owners," he said. "They need a safe place to shoot."

Gun sales and shooting range planned

The property, which previously housed Go Work Out and Genesis Fitness Center, will be renovated over the next several months, Haddad said. He declined to say how much will be spent on the work.

Delta Township Assessor Ted Droste said records show the property was sold to Vendrell Properties last month for $1.4 million by the previous owner, Delta West LLC.

The building's layout suits what Haddad said he has planned for the space.

"I couldn't have asked for a better building," he said.

Plans include enclosing the large picture windows facing West Saginaw Highway and installing an alarm system, security cameras and barricades on portions of the building.

"Security is going to be our main focus here," Haddad said.

Memberships will be available, he said, and the facility will offer on-site safe deposit box storage for members' firearms. The facility will be open to those without memberships as well, he said.

The business is expected to employ approximately 20 people, including licensed firearms instructors and range safety officers, Haddad said.

The business should open sometime this summer, he said.

Township officials reviewing plans

Plans for the building's renovation have been submitted to the township, and staff is reviewing them, Delta Township Planning Director Gary Bozek said.

The West Saginaw Highway property is zoned for commercial use, a classification that aligns with Haddad's business plans, Bozek said.

Gun shops and indoor shooting ranges are considered "indoor commercial recreation," he said.

Two other retailers within the township, Dunham's Sports in the Lansing Mall and Sportsman's Warehouse on Delta Market Drive, sell firearms, Bozek said.

The Capital Area Sportsmen's League, located on Old River Trail, offers both an outdoor and indoor shooting range, according to its website.

Contact Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @GrecoatLSJ.