Mission Fitness gym to expand

After 20 years giving Mission Hill residents a place to get in shape, Mission Fitness is expanding.

The gym, located in the CityView at Longwood Apartments tower at 75 St. Alphonsus St., will double in size by expanding into a vacant apartment.

The gym, which changed its name from Custom Fitness last year, originally operated as a personal training studio. When owner Jeff Rutstein saw the Hill’s hospital and student population need for a 24-hour gym, he converted it.

He “saw a real need due to the many students and hospital employees in the area that keep different hours,” co-owner John Agoglia told the Gazette in an email. “It is difficult to do a 24-hour club in a city—most are in suburbs—due to safety, but being in a building with a concierge around the clock makes it possible for us to offer this.”

Last year, Agoglia and fellow partner Bill Rundle—the gym’s fitness director—bought in and helped Rutstein rebrand and renovate.

“Rebranding it to Mission Fitness [was] to not only show it was broader-reaching than the original Custom Fitness name implied, but also to embrace our connection to the neighborhood,” Agoglia said.

Since then, they’ve invested $15,000 into the gym, Agoglia said, including adding new equipment and other structural improvements.

And now, they’re expanding into the neighboring space, doubling their footprint. This will allow Mission Fitness to add to their membership—they cap their numbers “to prevent overcrowding,” Agoglia said—and start offering small group classes and boot camps.

“This will allow us to not only continue adding new equipment and have room for our growing membership base but will still keep the intimate feeling we believe makes for a great fitness experience,” Agoglia said. “There’s nothing worse than coming into a club where you are lost in the crowd.”

The owners are also looking at replacing some equipment and evaluating adding on-demand video classes that members can do at anytime.

“While these classes [won’t] provide all the benefits of actual live instructor-led classes, they [would] give people that come in at off hours a chance to change up their workouts and workout with friends from work or school,” he added.

Work is expected to begin this week, Agoglia said, and is expected to be complete by in September, “to ensure that everyone looking to get back into their fitness routine after playing outside all summer gets the best experience possible.”

The expansion will not impact the regular membership fee of $49.99, Agoglia said. Mission Fitness’s website is MissionFitnessBoston.com.

A man works out at Mission Fitness. (Courtesy Photo)

A man works out at Mission Fitness. (Courtesy Photo)

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