Tim Harty, The Business Times 

As moves go for a business switching locations, Fortunato Fitness Club’s was about as easy as a leisurely pace on a treadmill with no incline.

Owners Paul and Chelcy Fortunato decided to leave the space at 743 U.S. 6 in Fruita when the building was put up for sale, and they wanted to avoid any uncertainty about their future as a tenant there.

They quickly found what they needed in a large white warehouse at 616 E. Grand Ave., across the street from Dapper Cuts barbershop.

The distance between the two locations? About a quarter-mile.

Then, the help they got from current fitness club members was extraordinary. Fortunato Fitness Club has about 400 members, and Paul Fortunato estimated 50 to 60 of them helped prep the new location, then move equipment there.

Keep in mind, Fortunato Fitness does not lack for equipment.

“They just showed up through the whole thing,” Paul said. “I mean, people were helping us with construction (getting the floor in, putting up the mirrors), just lending hands.”

Chelcy added, “We didn’t even shut down but for one day (Sunday, April 27). Members did not want to quit working out, and we didn’t want that. They were amazing.”

The new location is about the same size as the previous one – about 4,200 square feet, Paul said – but the space is more open and doesn’t have the interior walls the former space had.

That has allowed the Fortunatos to add some more equipment.

“We have a lot more squat racks,” Paul said.

They also added more cardio equipment, such as a few more elliptical machines, stair steppers and bikes and a Jacobs Ladder climbing machine.

The biggest change, they said, was changing the way members access the club to a Kisi Access Control system.

“We used to have a keyfob access, and it was kind of a little bit archaic,” Chelcy said.

Kisi, she said, is a modern system, something the government uses.

“Basically, it’s used through your phone through an app,” Chelcy said, “so you can make payments online, and you can access the door immediately, like within like 10 minutes, where before you had to have a staff member in order to get the key fob.”

What that ultimately means is Fortunato Fitness Club is going from calling itself a 24/7 gym to really being a 24/7 gym.

Having to have a staff member around wasn’t always possible, and now it doesn’t matter.

“Now they can just scan the QR code, and they can get inside,” Paul said.

Or, Chelcy added, “Buy a membership, and they go.”

The Kisi system also has 24-7 camera systems, “and we have access to that on our phones at all times,” Paul said.

The system also lets the Fortunatos know with a ding on their phones if someone enters the building and does not have the app, such as a nonmember following in behind a member or being let inside by a member.

“That’ll help, because we did have a little bit of that with the old system, somebody had let their friend in,” Paul said.

Because the building was a warehouse, it has a huge garage door in front, and Chelcy thinks they can take advantage of that on nice days.

“We thought that this was a great spot to even open up that garage door in the summertime and do some spin classes and do those types of things where you can get the sunshine and kind of go back and forth with the gym,” she said.

Also, the lot is large, meaning there’s a lot of space for parking, double what they used to have.

Otherwise, it’s the same old Fortunato Fitness, continuing to offer what netted the club 400 members.

And for anyone who hasn’t been to Fortunato Fitness, Paul said they should come and check it out

“You know, I think the biggest thing that we have to offer is it is a community gym, it’s a family gym,” he said. “It’s 24/7, which fits everybody’s schedule, so there’s no excuse not to get in here. … We’d love to see as many people in here as we can.”