Polaris Lifestyle Family Fitness Closing

Life Time Fitness just bought out Lifestyle Family Fitness several locations around Columbus including one in the Polaris area. As of now, it is scheduled to close permanently by the end of November.

Life Time Fitness is currently offering membership transfer options to those members effected by the closures throughout the end of the month. There will be no increase in membership fees or any upfront fee required during this transition.

I’ve contacted a member at the Lifestyle Family Fitness in Polaris and asked them their opinion on the closing so I will be updating this post soon.

[Update]

It may come to a surprise for many longtime Lifestyle Family Fitness members as they have decided to close many of their locations in Columbus, including the one in Polaris.

“To be honest, I’m upset that this happend so suddenly. I’ve been at this gym for years now and I’ve even met a few friends here. It has become kind of a daily routine for us to meet here and catch up, while staying healthy at the same time. I’m also sad I won’t be seeing the wonderful employees here as well. They were always so welcoming and helpful to everyone,” says long time Lifestyle member, Alex Dixon.

Polaris Lifestyle Family Fitness members are now forced to either continue their contract at other locations or even begin a whole new gym membership at other gyms located around the Polaris area. Some of these gym includes the popular Urban Active Fitness Club, Cardinal Fitness,  and Metro Fitness.

“I probably will have to go to some gyms around the area. I’m not willing to drive down to the other locations that are still open simply because it is not convenient for me anymore.”

For more information, check out Lifestyle’s official website here.

Santa Visits Polaris

Santa will be at the Polaris Fashion Place for pictures on November 14th-November 23rd from 10:30 A.M. – 3 P.M.  and 3:45 P.M. – 8 P.M.

Click here for more details at the official Polaris Shopping Center website.

They also will be having a special photo event with Santa for children with autism. Polaris Fashion place will be providing a comfortable and suitable environment around Santa’s area. This event will be held on December 4th,  from 9 A.M. – 11 A.M.

Otterbein’s Annual Tree Lighting

Otterbein is hosting another annual tree lighting December 2nd, 2011 at 5:30 P.M. located near Towers Plaza.

The ceremony will begin with a holiday message given by Rev. Monty Bradely, followed by the tree lighting countdown lead by President Krendl. Santa Claus will also make an appearance while the choir helps ring in the holiday’s with various Christmas carols.

This tradition has taken place since the 1960s Dr. Turner’s administration as stated by Bob Gatti, who is the president of Student Affairs at Otterbein. Following the annual lighting, there will also be the traditional Thanksgiving dinner at the Campus Center.

Everyone is welcomed to attend.

[Update]

Last friday, Otterbein held their annual tree lighting. Otterbein’s annual tree lighting was held a little later then previous years, due to the universitys’ recent switch from quarters to semesters. This years tradition took place just two weeks before the fall semester ends. This particular event happens to be one of the school’s biggest events during the holiday season.

“The tree lighting always helps sets the mood for the holidays around our school. I always try to make it since my freshman year. It’s important to me since I am so far away from my family and home. I can’t really celebrate the start of the holiday’s with them until break so Otterbein is the next best thing. Otterbein and the community is like my second family and home,” says Tina D., a junior at Otterbein.

The festivities began at 5:30 P.M. just outside the Tower’s Plaza. The festivities was no different then the previous years. Many students and community members around the Westerville neighboring areas showed up to help celebrate the start of the holidays right at Otterbein.

Otterbein’s president, Kathy Krendl first lit up the light’s on the trees around the plaza then Otterbein’s choir proceeded to sing Christmas carols, while encouraging the crowd to sing along. Various student government members passed candy cane treats among the crowd.After a few words from Monty Bradley who wished everyone a happy holidays, all the children began exclaiming excitedly as they saw Santa coming to join everyone for the festivities.

The tree lighting event soon ended and everyone then began heading towards the Campus Center, where a Thanksgiving Dinner was to take place.

Personal Review: BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse

 

BJ’s is a chain restaurant who opened one of its three location in Ohio at the Polaris Mall shopping center a few years ago. BJ’s features a full bar, a wide selection of dishes also including what seems like a never ending combination of types of pizzas, and t.v.’s scattered throughout every angle in the restaurant which makes BJ’s a full house during major sports games.

They also feature a curbside takeout (as most chain restaurants do now), happy hour specials, kids/takeout menus, and on Monday-Friday from 11 P.M.-3 P.M. is when the lunch specials starts.

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BJ’s is by no means a romantic place. At this specific location, it was pretty loud and had a bar-like feel too it (well it does have a bar as stated in the beginning). It’s definitely a casual place that would be a great restaurant for those looking for a place to dine-out with a group of friends.

Out of the many times I’ve been to BJ’s, I’ve only had to wait to be seated once and it was only a 5-10 minute wait. The hosts/hostess are all welcoming and promptly seated my boyfriend and I to a small booth. The servers we’ve had were very attentive and quickly brought our food to us.

I typically would order different things every time I go to BJ’s, but for this specific review, I ordered their Mediterranean pizza as well as their mozzarella sticks for an appetizer.

The mozzarella sticks were really good, I noticed it was not salty like most mozzarella sticks I’ve tried at other restaurants. The pizza was just as excellent.

Overall, there is not much to say other then this is one of the better chain restaurants out there.

Polaris Founders Park

A 1.5 acre park, known as the “Polaris Founders Park”, was opened in the Polaris area behind the Microsoft office building at 8800 Lyra Drive on October 5th, 2011. Some features of the park include a one mile walking path, a gazebo, two waterfalls, and an intricate 35 foot sculpture of the Polaris Star.

The park was developed by the founders of Polaris and was inspired by Bob Echele, who was the visionary behind Polaris. The developers planned the creation of the $500,000 park five years ago and kept in mind Echele’s love for the Japanese culture and Colorado Mountains, as well as the visitors and workers of Polaris.  Franz Geiger, Limited NP manager and other founders held a dedication ceremony for Echele, which was marked as the parks’ official opening.

Polaris Founders Park is now open to the public.

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[Edit]: Recently went to the park and it was closed off as you can see from some of the pictures above. Nonetheless, it looked beautiful from what could be seen.