Altea Active has announced plans to repurpose the former Cineplex Cinemas Beaches location at 1651 Queen St. East into a premium fitness and wellness destination. Altea Active is the incoming long-term occupant, marking a significant adaptive-reuse redevelopment in the established retail corridor. The project will convert the former cinema into a 59,000 square foot fitness and wellness club, with an anticipated opening in 2028. The redevelopment reflects a broader trend of large-format wellness and experiential concepts backfilling legacy entertainment and big-box real estate across major urban markets. Altea Active is a premium Canadian fitness and wellness operator known for amenity-rich, community-centric clubs that integrate performance training, boutique fitness programming, recovery and wellness services, and social spaces under one roof. “This project represents exactly the type of long-term, urban opportunity we are targeting,” said Altea Active’s CEO Jeff York. “The Beaches has a strong sense of community and an active, health-oriented demographic that aligns naturally with Altea’s platform. Repurposing a well-known destination like this allows us to deliver a highly differentiated wellness experience while contributing meaningfully to the community’s next chapter.” Looking ahead, Altea Active’s development pipeline includes several major projects scheduled to open beginning in early 2027, reinforcing the brand’s focus on large-format, premium wellness destinations through both adaptive reuse and ground-up development. Construction is scheduled to commence in Q2 of 2026 on a 125,000 square foot conversion of a former RONA site in Edmonton, as well as Altea’s second Vancouver club at Oakridge Park, a 54,000 square foot adaptive reuse of a former Hudson’s Bay Co space. In parallel, Altea Active is advancing multiple greenfield developments across key Canadian urban and suburban markets, with construction starts anticipated in 2027 and 2028. Kenzie Kohl of Aurora Retail Group represented Altea Active in the Beaches transaction and she and Sam Winberg are handling the chain’s real estate requirements.
Aurora Retail Group, 55 Avenue Rd., Suite 2450, Toronto, Ontario M4V 2A0 (Mackenzie Kohl – 647/231-5369 mkohl@auroraretailgroup.com ) & (Sam Winberg – 416/230-3310 sam@auroraretailgroup.com)
Altea Ottawa, 1660 Carling Ave., Ottawa, Ontario K2A 1C5 (www.alteaactive.com)