PHOENIX — Track Club, a very short-lived nightclub in downtown Phoenix is reopening, not as a club or music venue, but as a gym and fitness center under the same name.
The building, located at the corner of Central Avenue and Roosevelt Street, was home to DeSoto Central Market, a popular indoor food hall, before it was sold to new owners in 2019, renovated, and reopened as a nightclub in October 2019. Less than four weeks later, the nightclub closed.
It has remained vacant until now.
Pasquale “Pat” Brocco, known as @PossiblePat on Instagram, whose own weight-loss journey was shared on ABC's "Good Morning America" a few years ago, is leading the efforts to open the gym and fitness center.
"Fitness literally saved my life," he told ABC15.
Brocco said he weighed over 600 pounds at his heaviest and to lose weight, he threw away the food in his house and began walking to Walmart each day for his meals, a mile there and back, according to a 2016 ABC News article. That transitioned to inclined walks on a treadmill, lifting weights, and changing his diet. He lost over 300 pounds -- and has kept it off.
He wants to bring "a new style of gym" with a "great ambiance to it" to downtown Phoenix. He said he plans on keeping some of the LED screens from Track Club's club days, as well as the DJ booth to potentially feature DJ sets during evening workouts.
Outside of that, it will have some of the expected features of a large fitness center: workout equipment, free weights, group exercise classes, and one-on-one training. There will also be an outdoor gym where DeSoto's patio was, he said.
Some of the interior demolition has already begun and the equipment has been ordered, he said. The goal is to open in some capacity in mid-March.
There is also discussion about opening some sort of restaurant concept inside, but those plans were still being developed, he said.
Brocco teased the announcement on Track Club's Instagram account on Monday evening, and then confirmed the announcement on Tuesday. Some comments were excited about the new adventure, while others were hoping for the music venue to return.
