Tampa Bay Business Journal: October 12, 2012

TAMPA - In this week's Tampa Bay Business Journal report, editor Alexis Muellner discusses the impact of L.A. Fitness' new Signature Club in South Tampa on smaller gyms, the backlash over the Front Row Tampa Bay event, and a new entrepreneurial survey by Eckerd College.

L.A. Fitness is preparing to open their "Signature Club" in South Tampa next month. The 57,025 square-foot facility will feature racquetball and basketball, a swimming pool, and a parking garage with about 300 spaces.

The question is what will happen to smaller gyms such as the 3,500 square-foot Orange Theory fitness studio one block away.

Thrive is the answer. Industry trends show large fitness clubs can exist alongside smaller ones without putting the boutique gyms out of business.

The Tampa Bay Partnership put on an ambitious project called Front Row Tampa Bay during the 2012 Republican National Convention.

The live-streaming event recorded 17 hours of material. However, it cost $600,000. There are people questioning whether the expensive venture was worth its cost.

For the past few years Eckerd College's Leadership Development Institute has been collecting Entrepreneurialism Dimensions Profiles from business people.

Using those profiles, the Institute has determined Tampa Bay entrepreneurs tend to break the mold more than entrepreneurs from other areas.

For more information on these stories, click on the video player on the left or pick up this week's Tampa Bay Business Journal available on newsstands.