Yountville will soon have a new fitness center as well as a small cafe located on the grounds of the former Yountville Elementary School.
The Yountville Town Council this week approved contracts for each venture, designed with local residents in mind.
“This was one of the things that was most brought up in all of our surveys of people in town – we need a gym,” councilmember Pam Reeves said after hearing about the fitness center project during Tuesday’s regular council meeting. “And my experience of recovery from my hip surgery was I had to drive all the way to Napa to do anything. So it just feels like this is exactly what we’ve been asking for.”
Before the council approved contracts for the new fitness center and cafe, however, it approved Town Manager Brad Raulston’s request for an additional $500,000 needed to cover expenses related to rehabbing the 6.8-acre Yountville Commons property and the buildings on the site.
Raulston said the funding was already included in the 2024-25 budget for other capital improvement projects that wouldn’t be undertaken in this fiscal year.
The fitness center agreement with Donavan Almond, owner of Donavan’s Wellness Solutions or DWS, received unanimous support from the council, as did a contract with Lindsay Hoopes of Hoopes Vineyard to operate a year ‘round public farm stand and cafe out of the Yountville Little League Snack Shack. Under terms of the agreement, Hoopes and her staff would run the Snack Shack during all home Little League games as well.
According to a staff report presented at the meeting, “The Farmstand would be operated as a cafe/food service/beverage operation” six days a week, with Hoopes’ non-profit animal rescue “Oasis” providing local and seasonal produce and fresh-from-the-farm eggs, drinks, jams and other handmade specialty items.
Hoopes has been conducting a similar operation every Thursday morning in the outdoor plaza at Yountville Community Center. That will end but when Hoopes relocates to the Snack Shack, one of the four Thursday vendors – food-maker Mercadito – will join her. The Snack Shack has the infrastructure and permit for a commercial kitchen and just needs a new oven and sink to be installed, Parks and Recreation Director Samantha Holland told the council.
The Town had set aside $50,000 to make “necessary exterior improvements to bring the site up to suitable standards and improve accessibility prior to opening,” Holland said in her staff report.
The contract specifies stipulations that both sides agree to, including the Town making site improvements prior to Farmstand opening “at its own expense.”
The contract with Almond’s DWS fitness company grants him exclusive use of five former classrooms as well as the space that was previously the school library. Both DWS and the Town will have shared use of a sixth classroom, which Raulston said will be repurposed as a sit-down coffee and dining area for DWS clients or Town residents enjoying food from the Farmstand.
“Staff has spent considerable time with Donavan designing a model that will both serve our residents and visitors as well as integrate into the existing spaces at the Yountville Commons site,” Raulston told the council.
The town will complete all interior and exterior building improvements, including new flooring, paint, wall treatments, electrical infrastructure and furniture at an estimated cost of $190,000.
Almond, who owns DWS with his wife, Jacqui, has a master’s degree in exercise physiology. Under the DWS umbrella, the couple run Calistoga Fit with a studio and a gym in that upvalley town. Calistoga Fit also partners with the city’s recreation department for adult fitness programming, Almond told the council.
Under terms of the agreement with the town of Yountville, DWS will be responsible for the purchase and/or lease and maintenance of all exercise and office equipment for the fitness center, as well as liability insurance.
“DWS will pay the Town a license fee of $1 per year until the monthly operating revenue meets or exceeds the break-even point for three consecutive months,” according to the staff report on the deal. “The break-even point is considered met when revenue from memberships, drop-ins, group exercise classes, and on-site personal training cover the costs of all pre-opening expenses, capital expenses, month-to-month expenses for operating the site, and a management fee of $12,500 per month which increases 3% each year of the agreement.
“When the break-even point is reached, the remaining revenue will be paid to the Town on a quarterly basis. DWS will submit quarterly profit and loss statements to the Town for the entirety of the agreement.”
Almond told the Sun he’s hoping to have the gym open by the end of the year.
Estimated membership costs are as follows:
Yountville resident under 55 years of age: $70-$100 per person/month
Yountville-based businesses and employees: $70-$120 pp/month
Yountville resident senior (55 and up) and Town employees: $50-$80 pp/month
