London has been good to GoodLife and Canada’s biggest fitness chain is building a huge new headquarters in the city where it was founded.

GoodLife Fitness announced Wednesday it will build a 60,000- sq.-ft. building on a vacant property on Proudfoot Lane, just off Oxford St. W.

Last month, GoodLife completed a deal to sell its King St. headquarters to the Pillar Nonprofit Network but it didn’t announce a new headquarters site. Thursday’s announcement quells any concern GoodLife would pull its headquarters from the city.

“We do face pressure to move to Toronto but our roots are firmly planted in London,” said GoodLife chief operating officer Jane Riddell.



Artist’s rendering shows the 60,000-sq.-ft. building that will be national headquarters for London-founded GoodLife Fitness. The building, to take shape on vacant land on Proudfoot Lane, just off Oxford St.W., could be ready to open in 2016. Special to the Free Press

David Patchell-Evans opened the first club at Adelaide and Cheapside streets in 1979 shortly after graduating from Western University.

“We have a great new home that will accommodate our continuous growth and unique needs, and that we get to remain in the city, that means so much to me and to the history of our company,” Patchell-Evans said in a release.

GoodLife has more than 320 locations across the country and 1,000,000 members. Riddell said GoodLife sought a downtown location but was unable to find one large enough for future growth.

“We thought when we bought this (King St.) building it would be our forever home. But we just grew so quickly and we didn’t want to do another move in 10 years,” said Riddell, a classmate of Patchell-Evans and one of the company’s first employees.

hank.daniszewski@sunmedia.ca

- - -

NEW HEADQUARTERS