I was a previous member of Bally Fitness at this location for about 13 years (brand new in 1994) before they left Canada and split up their clubs between GoodLife and Extreme in 2007. This location was renovated in 2009 and I attended their grand opening party where it was turned into a night club complete with heart pounding music from a DJ and I got to see all the new changes. Most of my gym buddies still work out here. I was still a member here until the takeover was finalized (before the big renovation).
Back in the day, as a Bally club, it was one of the best gyms in the city with great members and decent management. The problem with Bally was their $10/month memberships which was a great deal for members but lousy for the business. Sales people padded their performance by loading up cheap memberships and switching old members to new rates. I was one of these members. This was my home club until I had my membership fees lowered and home club changed so when the clubs were split up, I ended up being a GoodLife member while the rest of my friends are still here.
Since their take over by Extreme, my friends there haven't been all that happy. The layout changed as they blocked out the nice aerobics room view with the hot yoga studio. It makes the aerobics room look so much smaller. The sales people at Extreme are much more aggressive and the members are paying significantly more. The equipment is very nice and their gyms are more modern than the GoodLife clubs in the city as they brought in many new pieces of equipment and offer a greater variety of classes. The GoodLife location where I am a member of has done very little to improve the club and the equipment is getting a bit run down but nothing has been replaced in the past 3 years so Extreme seems to be doing a better much job in this department. Overall, this Extreme location is a 4 star looking club with a 2.5 star rating in management and staff trainers.