Black Rock Mountain Resort has opened Onyx Club, a 10,000-square-foot wellness and fitness facility designed to combine training, recovery amenities and social programming into a single membership serving the growing communities outside Park City. The two-story, state-of-the-art facility goes b eyond a traditional gym model, including partnerships with local wellness providers and a calendar of member events. It’s intended to support everyday workouts as well as the broader mountain lifestyle. Director of Fitness Tina Polmatiere said per the StrengthFinder personality test, her strengths are “connector, cheerleader and organizer,” three driving forces she brings to her role at the Onyx Club. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Director of Fitness Tina Polmatiere is a fixture in the Park City wellness community and a former Division I swimmer at Brigham Young University whose career spans swim coaching, personal training, studio management and yoga teacher education. “I actually lived in Park City for 23 years. I raised two boys here,” Polmatiere said, having just recently moved to Sandy. “Park City was like my heart and soul. I know the people, I know the community, I love running into people at the grocery store whose kids I coached from swimming 20 years ago. … I love that kind of connection, and I knew that I could get it here in Park City.” So when she heard what Black Rock Mountain Resort wanted to do with its fitness facility, she had plenty of experience to draw from.  Before joining the resort, Polmatiere also worked in membership-driven social club operations and large-scale event planning for the Ken Garff University Club and Baptiste Yoga. Those made the role a good fit when she was approached to help build the fitness programming and the membership culture for the new facility, she said. “I had worked with (general manager) Alfredo (Anguiano) at a different property in Park City, and he reached out and was like, ‘Hey, we’re opening up this 10,000-square-foot fitness facility in the event center. We’re looking for somebody to not only build out the fitness side of membership, but build out a social side, too,’” she recalled. “And it was like, fitness, membership, I got this.” Rather than functioning as simply a drop-in gym, the club was designed to encourage members to meet one another and use the space as a gathering point. Seventy-percent of the members live within minutes of the resort, Polmatiere said, reinforcing its role as a local hub. Polmatiere said the gym opening comes amid rapid residential growth stretching from the eastern Park City area toward Kamas and surrounding Wasatch Back communities. “Nothing was out here when I first moved here. There was one little community here, and now we have tens of thousands of different units between here and Kamas. I mean, the area is just exploding,” she said. Onyx Club is different than a Basin Recreation Fieldhouse or Park City Municipal Athletic Recreation Center, she said.  “What it includes and what it is comprehensive of, there’s nothing like it. There are country clubs where you’ve got the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, you’ve got your food and beverage minimum spends monthly, and then you have your fitness facilities. We are somewhere in between that,” she said. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record The Onyx Club is set up with more familiar gym equipment on the top level, and the lower level is a more functional space, with specialized Keiser machines to further customize workouts. Inside the facility, the upper level focuses on familiar strength and cardio machines intended to feel approachable for general users, while the lower level emphasizes functional training and sport-specific conditioning for skiers, hockey players and other mountain athletes. The Outliers hockey team — which calls Black Rock Mountain Resort home — trains in the space. Polmatiere pointed to specialized pneumatic resistance equipment from Keiser, which allows users to adjust resistance digitally while tracking output and power per repetition. Personal trainers on staff operate independently within the facility, and equipment maintenance contracts ensure machines are serviced every quarter. For recovery, members get access to a co-ed steam room and sauna featuring a salt-stone wall, and Hyperice massage guns, balls and foam rollers.  Membership benefits extend beyond the workout floor. Discounts apply at resort dining venues depending on membership tier, and top-level members gain access to a lounge with games, televisions and gathering space, along with preferred pricing through several Park City wellness partners.  Programming, of course, is central to the concept, with a calendar that includes social gatherings, yoga sessions, sound bowl classes and even themed dining events. These aren’t designed as networking events, Polmatiere emphasized, but opportunitys to help to grow community. From the lower level of the Onyx Club, windows overlook the Black Rock Mountain Resort event center and hockey arena, where gym goers can watch practices while on certain machines. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record “I just think people want that connection, and if there’s an opportunity provided to them, they’re going to take it,” she said. “It’s harder to create it for yourself on your own. I mean, you could go to a bar or a restaurant or golf club and try to put yourself out there. But not everyone is that (extraverted).” Hotel guests can access the club through an a daily upgrade fee, though Polmatiere said usage levels will be monitored to ensure availability for long-term local members. Capacity limits could be introduced in the future if wait times for equipment begin to appear, and the same with membership caps. For youth access, ages 12-14 can work out with a parent, and children ages 15 and older can work out with a parent-signed waiver. Family membership options are expected to expand heading into summer, especially with the construction of a second pool. Onyx Club has been open to members for about a month, and Polmatiere is in her element, greeting members by first name, giving tips on how to use the machine and ready with an encouraging word.  When explaining why the role is so important to her, the director pointed to the StrengthsFinder personality test, which identifies a person’s top three strengths.  “My top three are connector, cheerleader and organizer. So I love seeing people who are like, ‘Oh my goodness, you own this studio. I’ve always wanted to try that.’ And that person’s like, ‘Come on over, let’s do it.’ And then now that’s enhanced their life. I just thrive on that,” she said. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Onyx Club members also get access to wellness-centered options like a heated pool and hot tub, dry sauna and a steam room. To join the Onyx Club, anyone interested can schedule a tour with Polmatiere and choose between the Core membership, $99 per month for 12 months, or the Elite membership, $139 per month for 12 months. There are other monthly commitment options, information on the perks, as well as couples or family memberships, detailed on the website at onyxclubparkcity.com/memberships. For members calendar events, see onyxclubparkcity.com/experience/exclusive-events. Polmatiere said there are still a few finishing touches coming, like plants and wood design elements to better mirror the hotel’s interior design, plus new paint and tile for the locker rooms. New equipment may come as needed, and as space allows, and with memberships continuing to fill up, she said prices will likely go up soon. The post Black Rock Mountain Resort opens Onyx Club, designed as a fitness and social hub appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less