ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 29, 1996 TAG: 9607010038
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
Aerobics classes and weight training now can be added to the list of outside industries recruited to the Radford Army Ammunition Plant.
Carilion Health System has opened its second wellness center in the New River Valley in a 26,815-square-foot building that once served as a gym for arsenal employees. The center, which is open to the public, will have its grand opening Sunday.
This is the third commercial tenant to announce it will locate onto the ammunition plant during the last two years in an ongoing effort to keep costs down at the now largely vacant arsenal.
New York-based Fireworks By Grucci will begin moving some of its manufacturing work to the plant in the fall. Alliant Techsystems Inc., the arsenal's commercial operator, is expected to finish moving its gunpowder operation from New Jersey to Radford in August.
Nick Vlahakis, Alliant vice president at the plant, said the opening of the wellness center symbolizes an ongoing renaissance at the ammunition plant.
"This building could have conceivably been boarded up and people could have driven by and said, 'That used to be the gym,'" he said.
Efforts to bring companies onto the arsenal's campus have been funded by federal money from the Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support Initiative. The ammunition plant invested $15,000 in federal money to install utility meters for the new wellness center.
Carilion spent $66,000 for renovations to the building, which was built during World War II as a gym for Army personnel. Because of this investment and a reduced rate offered to arsenal employees, Carilion will pay the ammunition plant only $100 per month for use of the building during the next five years.
The wellness center consists of a large, indoor basketball court, space for aerobics classes and rooms for cardiovascular and weight training. Members will get an initial fitness evaluation and then receive an individualized program.
Carilion already has another wellness center in Radford, which is much smaller than the facility at the ammunition plant. Members of both wellness centers can use the two facilities, said Julie Wilkinson, manager of the center at the arsenal.
Jim Wright, head of Carilion's wellness program, admits an ammunition plant is not the first place people would look for a fitness center. But Wright predicts the new center will be a success because Carilion has already tackled the sometimes-tangled procedures of locating on a government-owned facility.
"Our objective is to keep people healthy and this is the way to do it," he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 linesby CNB