Two contiguous properties formally owned by the Manchester Athletic Club, highlighted in orange, are now owned by Danvers-based Cell Signaling Technology.
After 50 years in operation, the Manchester Athletic Club’s Manchester location will close on September 30 following the sale last month of the 50-acre wooded property it sits on to Cell Signaling Technology (CST), a Danvers-based biotech company.
The move was announced in an email to club members from MAC owner Anthony Simboli, whose team has continued to operate the MAC in Manchester after the sale while CST explored continued business operation under a different operator.
“Closing this chapter is difficult, but necessary,” Simboli wrote. “While this evaluation process moves forward, MAC Fitness will continue its current operations until September 30, 2022 at which point, regretfully, MAC Fitness Club operations (including MAC Tennis Academy) in Manchester will officially close.”
Prorated refunds for all prepaid annual memberships and fees for the current Manchester MAC Fitness Club members will be refunded in the next 30 days.
Cell Signaling purchased the property on Atwater Avenue in Manchester’s Limited Commercial District (LCD) in July for $17.5 million, and that transaction included the land and the buildings on it. The sale did not include the fitness center or the nationally acclaimed tennis academy, and Cell Signaling announced it would lease back the MAC facilities while it explored next steps, saying at the time that it considers the MAC to be "an important member of the Manchester community."
In a statement Tuesday, Cell Signaling said it is actively exploring the feasibility of installing a new operator at the facility and is doing everything it can to keep the MAC open for the community.
The company also disclosed it has hired an consultant to expedite the search for potential operators and that process has identified a short list of qualified third-party club operators who “have expressed preliminary interest in building on the traditions of service and wellness that have made the MAC the premier health and racquet club on the North Shore.”
The MAC business was hit hard during the COVID pandemic. When the state mandated that all fitness centers close, the MAC continued to pay all 80 of its employees and waived monthly fees (although many members continued paying dues to support the club).
It used the closure to upgrade the facilities, including replacing the exterior tennis court “bubble,” upgrading the club’s three pools, adding pickleball courts, and renovating the club’s entrance areas. When the club re-opened, it expanded online fitness classes, upgraded much of its equipment, and the team invested in large outdoor tents to offer exercise and training options for those concerned about social distancing.
Simboli said in the last 18 months he has invested $1.5 million in the club.
“Throughout that (challenging) period, I was reminded time and time again that we have incredible employees, and amazing members. Those responsible should be appreciated and thanked,” Simboli wrote in his email to members.
He also said he hopes the club will return in some fashion.
“I hope that the Club’s Manchester location will re-open at some point and in a new form.” In the meantime, the closure does not impact the MAC’s Gloucester location, which will remain open to members.
Cell Signaling said its consultant is actively engaging several interested operators to determine the feasibility of continuing operations at the MAC facility but said the “timing of the possible reopening remains uncertain,” according to the company’s statement.
“CST recognizes the difficulties this uncertainty causes for MAC employees and members and is proceeding with its search for a new operator in an expeditious manner.”
It was in 2021 that Cell Signaling approached the Manchester Planning Board and Select Board to share its intention to purchase and build a large corporate campus behind the MAC site. The company was seeking support to add “laboratory use” as an approved use in the LCD to the town’s zoning bylaw. That change required support at Town Meeting, which it received overwhelmingly by voters in April, enabling the sale to proceed.
When the sale became public, it was actually for two parcels of land (both owned by Simboli) totaling 50 acres that Cell Signaling was acquiring through two of subsidiaries. The second property houses the MAC buildings and its tennis academy operation and provides frontage to the rear lot.
Cell Signaling has a team working on designs for its campus and is expected to formally submit its plans for approval before the appropriate town boards “at the appropriate time,” which is expected to be later this year or early in 2023.
