SkyLofts MarketSquare | Fitness Center Gives Full Workout

Bialas met with trainer Art Little from Royal Oak’s Fitness Unlimited to identify her fitness goals and develop an improvement plan. There they found an array of equipment that Little said could meet everyone’s needs. The gym includes an elliptical machine, two cycles, two treadmills, a rowing machine, hand weights and a Nautilus machine that especially impressed Little. .

“This is a nice machine,” said Little, a 52-year-old power lifting champion. “I’m from the old school; I like to hear the weights clanking. But I’d recommend this.” Users can develop any muscle set on the machine, as Little demonstrated, testing the low row, bench press and leg extension stations. “There’s no excuse now not to work out,” he said.

A mirrored wall aids accuracy and a flat-screen TV helps pass the time. Dropped hand weights won’t be able to dent the specially cushioned recycled rubber floor, although the rubber coating on the ends of the weights already offers protection

Morningside Group, the developer of SkyLofts MarketSquare, used market research and their experience with more than 10 developments in Illinois and Michigan to design the fitness center.

“We expected very active buyers in this building and in this market, and felt that a well-equipped fitness center would be an important amenity,” said development manager Nico Schultz.

Schultz said the developers also considered the needs of residents with special mobility needs when choosing and placing the equipment.

Hand weights played the most important part in the program Little recommended for Bialas. Her soccer, spinning and kickboxing classes already strengthen her heart, lungs and legs, but she told Little she’d like to tone her upper body.

“But I don’t want to look like a guy!” she said.

Little assured her that even the most vigorous weight training program won’t turn a woman into the chiseled specimens seen in weightlifting competitions. He recommended several exercises for her biceps, triceps, chest and lower back, to be done in four sets of 12 repetitions.

While Bialas likes the sociability and encouragement of cardio exercise classes, she said she appreciates the fitness center’s elliptical machine on days when time or weather prevents her from getting to class.

Bialas, a guidance counselor at Detroit School of Arts, moved into SkyLofts MarketSquare a year ago. She went to college at Loyola University in Chicago, where she came to appreciate the style and convenience of loft living.

“I like the restaurants,” she said of Royal Oak. “and I love that I can get a drink or a cup of coffee just steps away.” The MarketSquare location, two blocks off Main Street, appeals, too. “It’s close to everything, but far enough away at 2 a.m. when the bars let out,” she said.

Fitness Unlimited, at 408 S. Fourth Street in Royal Oak, offers machines, free weights and cardiovascular equipment and classes in a co-ed environment, with lockers and showers. Members receive a free personal consultation with a trainer like Little, who has worked at the center for two years.

Founded in 1993, Morningside Group is a real estate development firm that specializes in creating premier mixed-use and multi-family developments in urban locations throughout the Midwest. Long recognized as a leader in the design and construction of highly acclaimed buildings, Morningside Group has built an enviable track record of successful public-private partnerships.

Morningside’s incomparable work ensures that each new development will join a growing portfolio of prized buildings which includes, in Michigan, SkyLofts Royal Oak in Royal Oak and Liberty Lofts in Ann Arbor and, in Illinois, Arbor Court and Prairie Town Center in Oak Lawn, Crescent Court and Museum Square in Elmhurst, Morningside Square in Downers Grove, Glen Astor in Glen Ellyn and buildings in Evanston and Skokie.

Click here to visit the SkyLofts MarketSquare website!