Work on the former Esporta Fitness center in Oswego is continuing as the Oswegoland Park District is moving ahead with plans to open the building next year as a new Park District facility.

In May, the Oswegoland Park District announced it had acquired the long-vacant Esporta Fitness center at 201 Ogden Falls Boulevard along Route 34 in Oswego in order to expand its indoor recreational and aquatic programming – including the district’s first indoor swimming pool.

Esporta Fitness closed its doors Oct. 16, 2023. LA Fitness operates Esporta Fitness centers.

Oswegoland Park Board members were recently updated on the work that is being done on the building, which has been renamed Ogden Point. They were told that a professional cleaning company did a deep cleaning of the entire building in September.

In addition, Park District employees recently cleaned the building’s exterior windows and interior pool windows, deep cleaned the tile locker room floors and worked on cleaning the fire extinguisher dry chemical residue in the spin studio.

Earlier this month, staff also removed the guest registration desks which will become the new lobby seating area.

Plans are for the building to open by the end of 2026, if not sooner. The building was built in 2008.

“We’re going to try to get it open as soon as possible,” Oswegoland Park District interim executive director Jim Reuter said. “We’re getting there. We might open a section of it at a time and not open the whole thing.”

Reuter said the building meets the district’s needs.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “It’s got everything that we needed to have. It’s going to accommodate our needs, at least for now.”

The Park District bought the 45,000-square-foot building for $2.55 million. The project will be funded through the district’s accumulated resources and non-referendum bonding authority.

At the July 17 Oswegoland Park Board meeting, commissioners approved a contract with Dewberry Architects, Inc. for phase one design consulting services for the rehabilitation of the facility.

The contract is for an estimated amount of $126,000, plus reimbursable expenses as per the contract.

“The facility had been closed for a number of years and the regular maintenance and security of the facility was not kept up very well,” Oswegoland Park District Director of Parks and Planning Chad Feldotto had previously said. “Thus, we have a lot of work ahead, just to get the building to a point where we can open and maintain it appropriately.”

In addition, commissioners approved a $15,000 contract with Leopardo Companies, Inc. for pre-construction management services for facility improvement projects.

Currently, the Park District operates two outdoor pools – the Civic Center Aquatic Pool and Winrock Pool.

Along with swim lessons, other planned uses for the building include small group classes, athletic activities and other indoor activities designed to serve residents of all ages.