Downtown Genesis health club may close if Wichita picks new Ice Center management
Putting the Wichita Ice Center under new management could mean shutting down the Genesis Health Club on the second floor of the city-owned building, the city manager confirmed Friday.
As City Hall moves toward hiring a new ice center operator, the plan for continued use of the upper floor “has not been fully developed,” said City Manager Robert Layton.
“There’s the potential that Genesis could lease that space at market rate for a year,” Layton said. “If not, they would have to vacate that space.”
After numerous complaints about Genesis management, the Wichita City Council is expected to vote Tuesday on a staff recommendation to turn management of the ice center back over to its former operator, Rink Management Services Corp., which ran the facility from August 2006 to March 2011.
Genesis president Rodney Steven did not return a message left at the business seeking comment.
If Genesis does leave the ice center at 505 W. Maple, the city would seek a new tenant for the space in consultation with RMSC, Layton said.
Layton said they could seek another fitness center operator to continue the current use under another brand.
Representatives of user groups have suggested that facility could be “more youth focused” than Genesis’ primarily adult clientele and geared toward strength training for the ice center’s primary functions, hockey and figure skating, Layton said.
Because the city owns the facility, the council would have the final say on any new tenants for the second-floor space now occupied by Genesis and the Pucks sports bar, he said.
Mayor Brandon Whipple said the fate of the Genesis Club is a secondary to getting the right management in place for the ice operation.
“If this passes and there is new management, that (the Genesis Club) would be the next discussion: Is that what the public wants?” he said. “At this point, we’re fully focused on the (skating) users and seeing that they get the best experience possible.”
Users have complained for years that the ice portion of the facility has been allowed to run down as Genesis focused attention and investment on the upstairs health club.
Complaints include blown-out lights over the rinks — a safety hazard with fast-flying pucks and bodies — also, worn out and smudged glass and dasher boards around the rinks, player bench areas with rotted floors, play clocks and scoreboards that either have been unusable for years or break down during games.
An online petition demanding an end to Genesis management of the ice center started in July 2020 has been signed by 3,700 people.
Genesis has run the ice center since 2011 under a deal where the city borrowed and lent the company $750,000 to remodel the second floor for the private health club. The city also pays Genesis a management fee to operate the public ice rinks.
Without the downtown location, the closest Genesis clubs would be near 13th and West streets to the west and Woodlawn and Central to the east.
In addition to its four clubs, headquarters and call center in Wichita, the company has 54 other health clubs spread across six midwestern states.
Genesis also is the developer of a mammoth baseball/softball/swimming multi-sport complex under construction in Goddard.
Genesis owners, brothers Rodney and Brandon Steven, also own the Wichita Thunder minor-league professional hockey team, which practices at the ice center.
