An architect”™s rendering of the first floor at Apogee Pilates and Wellness Center, opening next month at 138-140 Mamaroneck Ave. in White Plains.Â
Partners in a new lifestyle and fitness enterprise, Apogee Life Style L.L.C., this winter will open their flagship Apogee Pilates & Wellness Center in a former bank in downtown White Plains.
The company, with offices in White Plains and Orangeburg, expects to open Feb. 1 in 8,500 square feet of space in the former Bank of New York building at 138-140 Mamaroneck Ave. It is the first non-bank operation to occupy the property in more than 95 years. A company spokesperson said the center will employ 25 full-time and part-time workers.
The facility now under construction will include two large training studios for group classes and private instruction as well as a 700-square-foot retail store and a cafe serving food by Myong Private Label Gourmet in Mount Kisco. The center also will provide wellness concierge services, nutrition counseling, a skin care center offering Apogee”™s own natural and organic products and valet parking.
Apogee co-founder Stacy Ciaravella said the center is poised to be a major destination for both health-conscious area residents and Pilates and wellness professionals from around the U.S. The center in February will host its first series of accredited continuing education workshops for Pilates instructors taught by industry leaders.
Unlike gyms or traditional Pilates studios, Ciaravella said, Apogee takes an integrated approach to wellness based on a Pilates-inspired lifestyle with a focus on movement, nutrition and community. The system is based on the six principles of total-body wellness pioneered by Joseph Hubertus Pilates, yet takes that to a new level for both the novice and the professional Pilates instructor by incorporating the latest advancements in exercise science and equipment design.
“Apogee Life Style is especially excited to become a partner in the ongoing redevelopment of downtown White Plains,” she said. “We are making a commitment to updating and creating a beautiful, state-of-the-art facility that will completely transform the prior original buildings into an extraordinary new resource for both the local market and the broader wellness community.”
Ciaravella brings to the new enterprise two decades of experience in sales, marketing and brand development at Pilates Style magazine, Sports Illustrated, Fitness, People, The Economist and Family Circle magazines. The Manhattanite also co-founded Pilates-Pro.com, the first online community and trade news source for Pilates professionals worldwide.
Her business partners in Apogee Life Style L.L.C. are Rockland County resident A. Jon Prusmack and Irving Cohen, a resident of White Plains and Tampa, Fla. Prusmack is CEO and co-founder of DHS Technologies L.L.C., a designer and manufacturer of military and government equipment in Orangeburg, and serves on the Rockland County Economic Development Corp. board. Cohen, a certified public accountant, most recently was chief financial officer at DHS Technologies. He has held numerous senior management positions, including president of J.P. Morgan Treasury Technologies Corp., CEO and chief financial officer of Barclays North America and chief financial officer and chief operating officer for Lehman Brothers fixed-income business.
