Almost a year and a half ago, the management team from Mid-America Group Ltd. began working out together over lunch. It’s worked so well that now the company wants to help make fitness facilities more accessible for tenants at one of its office parks.

At the end of January, Urbandale-based Team Fitness Training Center will open a new location in Regency West Office Park in West Des Moines, which Mid-America manages. Brad Long, the vice president of strategic development for Mid-America, said the new fitness center will serve as another amenity for current and future tenants there.

“The main impetus was to provide a value-added service for our tenants,” Long said. “And because we really enjoyed working out together for the fact that it built teamwork and made us healthier, we thought others would enjoy it as well.”

Long said a fitness center at the eight-building office complex was suggested by tenants in a survey a little over a year ago.

“We have tenants who employ close to 350 people, all the way down to offices with only five or six people,” Long said. “They could add on-site fitness on their own, but since most already utilize their space to the limit, it would probably be difficult for them to allocate space for something like this.”

While working out a few months ago, the Mid-America executives brought the idea up to Kristen Gostomski, the owner of Team Fitness. Gostomski said she sees corporate fitness as an untapped area with great opportunities for her business.

“There’s about 40 businesses at the office park, and when we sent out a survey to see who would be interested in using our facility there, we heard from 115 people,” she said.

Initially, the Regency West branch will offer training sessions three days a week, in the mornings, over lunch and after work. Gostomski will extend the hours of operation and open up the center to non-tenants of the office park as space allows. Unlike the Urbandale center, which offers 50-minute small-group training sessions, the new location will have 30-minute sessions out of consideration for people’s busy workday schedules, Gostomski said. The sessions will be either Pi-Yo Plus, a combination of Pilates and yoga, or strength training. Classes will be limited to 12 people.

“We want to make it easier for people to pop in over their lunch break,” she said. “But they’ll also have the option to double up for two 30-minute sessions for a longer workout.”

Gostomski said a few businesses at the office park have already expressed interest in paying for their employees’ workout sessions.

“Insurance costs are getting so high for companies, and they’re looking to do something for their employees to help them improve their health,” she said. “Some are already paying for all or part of health-club memberships for their employees, and they like idea of sending them to our on-site facility, where it’s convenient, workouts are structured and we take attendance.”

Long said Mid-America has had previous success with bringing big-company amenities to Regency West. About a year and a half ago, catering services were added in two of the most heavily populated office buildings, and an automobile service professional regularly offers oil changes for tenants on site. He expects the addition of the fitness center to be popular as well.

“We are continually looking for services that our tenants will enjoy,” Long said.

“The services, especially the food one, have really been a huge success for us, and I think Kristen’s workout facility will be similar.”