For the second time in just over a year, the Alaska Club is closing one of its Anchorage facilities. The Alaska Club's Midtown Anchorage location – on the corner of Tudor Road and the Old Seward Highway – is for sale and is expected to close for good by the end of January.
The 28,000-square-foot facility houses workout equipment and eight courts that can be used for racquetball, squash or handball. Alaska Club President Robert Brewster said that despite more than $930,000 in renovations and upgrades to the club over the last five years, use of the Midtown site has declined, especially of the club's racket courts.
Its closure will leave five Alaska Club courts at the club's East Anchorage location. Other Anchorage clubs offering racquetball courts include the Dimond Athletic Club and the Spenard Recreation Center, which both have two.
Only 64 people had memberships that included access to the courts at the Alaska Club Midtown, Brewster said, and only 100 people regularly use the Alaska Club court system throughout Anchorage.
"There has certainly been a seismic shift in the number of people playing racquetball and handball," Brewster said.
Brewster said the money that the club had spent on the Midtown location would be better served in upgrading other facilities, including a new pool and splash park at the Alaska Club's Eagle River facility.
Brewster said three more courts will be built at the Alaska Club South to help make up for the loss of the Midtown club's courts. And, despite a downward trend in usage, Brewster said he still thinks racket sports have a place in Anchorage and wants to reinvigorate the sport in Alaska.
"Racquetball is a fantastic sport, and it's a head scratcher why people don't play," Brewster said.
Brewster said the Alaska Club would honor Midtown racket memberships at other locations so people who have already paid for access to them still have a chance to play.