By Josh Carpenter

HUNTERSVILLE – Members of the Fitness Center at Birkdale can rest easy.

They won’t be forced to give a 60-day notice to Gold’s Gym in Cornelius to cancel their transferred memberships when the Birkdale gym closes its doors at the end of the month.

A bulletin posted on Birkdale’s door last week stated that members wouldn’t be billed past Sept. 14, when the gym’s lease ends. But upon closing, owners decided to transfer memberships to Gold’s Gym, which requires a 60-day notice for canceling memberships.

That meant members would have to pay two months worth of membership fees at Gold’s.

“I think the (Birkdale) owners didn’t want to just dump the members and say, ‘Good luck,’” Gold’s owner Kevin Craft said Monday. “I had been in talks with them in the past and just decided to transfer the memberships over here.”

Craft said the memberships were transferred but Gold’s isn’t in possession of any member billing information. Birkdale members won’t be forced to join Gold’s and he’s decided to waive the 60-day cancellation policy.

“Their owners just thought we could best accommodate them,” Craft said. “We hired all their childcare people and probably three or four of their front desk people. We wanted the transition to go as gently as possible if (Birkdale members) decide to join.”

Most of Birkdale’s members have already signed up at Gold’s, Craft said, with only a few looking elsewhere.

“I just think a lot of people jumped to conclusions,” he said. “We certainly want them to join, but there’s no obligation here.”

A call to the Fitness Center at Birkdale wasn’t immediately returned.