Proposed Wellness Center At Central Regional High School Still On The Table

If all goes well, a proposed privately-run wellness center on the Central Regional High School campus could be up and running sometime in 2014, schools Superintendent Triantafillos Parlapanides said.

"It's going to be huge," he said.

Parlapanides and other school officials plan to meet with Gary Reidy - a managing partner in Princeton-based Fitness and Wellness Professional Services - on Sept. 7 to discuss initial plans.

Reidy wants to pour between $26 to $30 million into the project on land the Central Regional school district already owns.

The district would lease the property to the firm for 20 years. Once the company has earned back its initial investment, the center would begin to generate revenue for the district through profit sharing, Parlapanides has said.

The fee-based facility would also be open to surrounding towns and could provide up to 250 jobs in the community, he said.

"Let's get people working again," Parlapanides said in a recent interview.

The proposed project would go far beyond a standard fitness center.

Anyone who joins receives a full physical and bloodwork. Doctors and fitness trainers then provide individualized exercise programs, Parlapanides has said.

"After four months, you get another physical," Parlapanides said.

The St. Barnabas Healthcare System would partner with the company to provide doctors and nurses. Services would include an Olympic-size swimming pool, complete gym facilities,  cardiac rehab, physical therapy, a therapy pool, a wide variety of fitness classes, personalized health and fitness assessments, wellness programs and lectures, a restaurant, and a daycare center, he said.

Reidy has already completed several wellness centers in New Jersey. Central just had to wait its turn, Parlapanides said.

"He's pretty much done with the other ones," said Parlapanides. "He put us on a list."

Parlapanides and other school officials have already visited three of the other facilities and liked what they saw, he said.

The center will consist of one 50,000-70,000-square foot building, with two, possibly three stories. Reidy would have to submit the project to the Planning Board. Construction could possibly start in the spring of 2013, Parlapanides said.