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Business & Tech

In Shifting Business Community, Fitness Center to Offer Something New

Local Demand Brings LA Boxing to Cordell Avenue.

Cordell Avenue will soon welcome a unique tenet – a fitness center that showcases one-hour workouts – joining the growing number of businesses along the downtown street.

LA Boxing combines traditional weight training with kickboxing and mixed martial arts to burn 1,000 calories an hour, and provides an environment that “has something for everybody,” said the gym’s D.C.-Maryland-Virginia Regional Manager Felix Pagan. Its Bethesda location is scheduled to open at 4834 Cordell Ave. on March 19.

The addition of LA Boxing has sparked the interest of local business owners, who are hopeful a mainstream name will bring more foot traffic to a street that has seen so many changes in the past year, primarily restaurants that have come and gone.

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The most recent closing is footsteps from LA Boxing’s location: Velovoom, a cycling studio that less than two months ago, inexplicably closed its doors recently. Representatives from the studio were not available to provide further details, however, if gone for good, Velovoom will be among the shortest-lived of businesses in the area.

 “It appears the vast majority of people are doing their shopping on Bethesda Row,” Blake Grandon, who owns party supply shop down the street from the LA Boxing site, wrote in an e-mail. “It’s a shame. There are so many good restaurants and businesses off of Cordell.”

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Grandon opened Party Mania in October, but said he’s since had difficulty promoting it in what he sees as one of Bethesda’s lesser-noticed neighborhoods.

Businesses have closed for a number of reasons, and while new ones often replace the old, that isn’t always the case, said Marketing & Communications Director Stephanie Coppula of the Bethesda Urban Partnership, an organization that aims to attract business and popularity to the city.

“Maybe it was their business model, or their product, or their service,” Coppula said.

Pagan said the concerns of local business owners don’t faze him. The gym’s Rockville location, less than five miles away from the Bethesda spot, generates more revenue than any other LA Boxing in the nation. Twenty-five percent of his customers there are residents of Bethesda, which prompted his interest in the new gym.

Optimistic about the new location, Pagan said he was shocked to hear that previous businesses on Cordell Avenue hadn’t lasted.

“I see all that changing,” he said. “I like to think we will fit right in. People have been inquiring for months and months about when we’re going to open a Bethesda location.”

Because of LA Boxing’s one-hour workouts, Pagan hopes to cater to the fast-paced lifestyle he’s seen in Bethesda. “People here have pretty hectic schedules, whether personally, professionally or both. I think this workout accommodates the everyday busy person,” he said.

Coppula said she’s looking forward to what LA Boxing will bring to the downtown area, which is largely comprised of eateries and boutiques. “If you just have one type of business over the other, you might only be attracting people at one time of the day. Having a new fitness place is great; there’s such a push to be fit and healthy.”

She added that the changes Cordell Avenue is undergoing are normal in business-driven cities; downtown Bethesda alone is home to 700 restaurants, shops, and retailers.

“I think, typically, when you have that much storefront property, you definitely see turnover in the downtown,” she said.

While Grandon has mixed feelings about a franchise coming to the street, he said any new business is a promising sign in today’s economy. “I think [LA Boxing] has potential to bring more people to the area, depending on how it’s set up and its popularity,” he said.

Currently, LA Boxing is promoting the Bethesda location by providing a cheaper membership rate for early sign-ups. A grand opening event, scheduled for early April, is in the works.

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