BINGHAMTON — Synergy Athletics, which provides personal athletic training for its members, is hoping to begin operations in the building located at 1429 Upper Front St. in Binghamton in January. The business recently purchased the 4,700-square-foot building where renovation work started Nov. 30, says Joe Hashey, president of Synergy Athletics, who spoke with CNYBJ in […]
BINGHAMTON — Synergy Athletics, which provides personal athletic training for its members, is hoping to begin operations in the building located at 1429 Upper Front St. in Binghamton in January.
The business recently purchased the 4,700-square-foot building where renovation work started Nov. 30, says Joe Hashey, president of Synergy Athletics, who spoke with CNYBJ in a phone interview on Dec. 13.
He’s hoping to finish the project in mid-January.
Pritchard Property Development of Binghamton is handling the renovation work. The project cost, which includes the building purchase and the build-out, will total about $850,000, according to Hashey.
Synergy Athletics has been operating in a 2,000-square-foot space at 65 Pennsylvania Ave. in Binghamton. “That’s our smallest location,” says Hashey.
The company also has gyms in Endwell and Vestal, he adds.
When asked if Upper Front Street is replacing the Pennsylvania Avenue location, Hashey replies that Synergy won’t make a decision on that question until the end of 2020.
“It depends on how many [clients] end up switching over. The newer, bigger facility is far enough away that I think we’ll still have a decent membership at 65 [Pennsylvania] Ave.,” says Hashey.
Synergy has operated at the Pennsylvania Avenue space for two years. It’s been operating the locations in Endwell and Vestal for about a decade, he adds.
The Upper Front Street gym is in an area where a lot of Synergy members live or work, so they would usually drive to the company’s site in Endwell. But in the exercise business, Hashey says, a closer location is better for motivation.
“In the gym world, if you’re more than six miles away from a gym, studies show that your habits fade away. We wanted to provide something a little closer,” says Hashey.
He was familiar with the Upper Front Street location because he’d drive by it on his trips to and from Colgate University, where he attended and graduated. The structure had been home to a few companies but also had been “empty for a while.”
“I just always thought it would be a great spot for a gym and it worked out,” Hashey says.
He says he bought the building from a man who lives in Vermont.
Synergy Athletics has 10 employees total. Two trainers will work at the Upper Front Street gym. “We’ve actually already hired two more that are in our on-the-job training program now that’ll be up for positions at this new location,” he says.
Synergy Athletics has about 750 members (customers).
Hashey and his wife, Melanie, launched the business on Oct. 8, 2008 from the garage of their home. Hashey was teaching high school social studies and economics but says he had a “passion” for fitness because he had played athletics while at Colgate.
He says his father’s death in his 50s due to heart failure was further motivation.
“We wanted to help people live longer and healthier lives,” says Hashey.