Newport Athletic Club to close doors this month

Newport Athletic Club to close doors this month MIDDLETOWN — The Newport Athletic Club will cease operating as a health and fitness facility at the end of business on Sunday, Sept. 30, as its pending sale to a tax-exempt new owner nears completion.

The Newport Athletic Club’s owner, Aquidneck Health Properties LLC, entered into a purchase and sales agreement with OceanPointe Christian Church in mid-July. A sales price was not disclosed for the property, which the town assesses at nearly $2.27 million. The property’s asking price had been $2.5 million last spring.

Aquidneck Health Properties pays the town $41,257.58 a year in real estate property taxes on the 35,000-square foot facility at 66 Valley Road, roughly the equivalent of the annual salary of a junior-level labor equipment operator in the Department of Public Works. But churches and religious organizations are generally exempt from income and property taxes.Newport Athletic Club to close doors this month

“That’s a penny on the tax rate,” said Middletown Finance Director Marc Tanguay. The town’s residential tax rate is $13.75 per $1,000.In 2015, the Internal Revenue Service determined that OceanPointe Christian Church is exempt from federal income tax and that it is a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code. That allowed for the church to accept tax deductible contributions, bequests and gifts.

Newport Athletic Club General Manager Kevin Buck, one of the four principals who form Aquidneck Health Properties, did not know the exact closing date on the property, which he said was originally listed over a year ago. “It will be sometime in the next 20, 30 days but we have to empty the facility,” Buck said.

OceanPointe Christian Church has held services in the same building as Island Cinema at 866 West Main Road since its founding in 2014. It has a separate entrance for its worship, education and office spaces and uses one of the theaters on Sundays. Average weekly attendance combined for all four services offered totals 590, said Lead Minister Jeff Stalnaker.

The church received a special use permit from the town’s Zoning Board on Aug. 28 to convert the health club facility into a house of worship. Stalnaker said a local architect is working on redesigning the health club space and that an artist rendering would be publicly available in late fall. The building will need an elevator and major bathroom renovations, he said. The Newport Athletic Club was built before the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, which required places of public accommodations to be handicap-accessible.

He said many have asked him about what the church will do with the athletic club’s pool. There were hopes to keep the pool and have it available for public use originally, but Stalnaker said the church’s insurer wouldn’t go for such a plan. That came as a big disappointment for a church that posts videos of its baptism ceremonies at local beaches on its Facebook page.

“It was a pretty open and closed thing when our insurance said we won’t insure you if you have it,” he said.

Stalnaker acknowledged that grumbling by those unhappy about the closing of the health club have gotten back to him.

“Whenever something closes or ends and if it’s been a part of your life, there’s an emotional component to it and we often want something tangible to blame,” he said.

“It was for sale and we went and purchased it,” he added. “I think if people remove some of the emotion and think about it, they understand it.”

The Newport Athletic Club opened in 1980 as a Playoff Racquetball Club with 12 racquetball courts, locker rooms, and a lounge area. Over the years, it added other fitness facilities and programs and an indoor/outdoor pool. Buck said the club has approximately 1,800 members as of this month.

Newport Athletic Club members who had paid for their memberships in advance will be reimbursed for their unused months, Buck said. He said he will be the one to lock the doors at 6 p.m. on the last day of September.

Stalnaker added that the church intends to be a resource for the community. “That’s a part of who we are, that’s a part of our hearts,” he said. “My hope is that even the people who are upset with us, they’ll be able to see that ultimately this will be something that’s good for the community.” Newport Athletic Club to close doors this month