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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

High-End Health Center Coming to the Plaza Hotel

By DNAinfo Staff on May 15, 2011 10:36am

La Palestra Lucida on the Upper East Side.
La Palestra Lucida on the Upper East Side.
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Courtesy of http://www.lapalestra.com/

By Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MIDTOWN — New Yorkers will now be able to workout more than their wallets at the famed Plaza Hotel.

La Palestra, an exclusive health and fitness center, is planning to open a high-tech gym that is open to the public at the storied Central Park South hotel this fall.

"We’re very excited about it," said La Palestra’s Rachel Perry.

The workout space, which will span two floors in the hotel’s cellar and sub-cellar, will focus on providing what it describes as a full mind and body experience, based on the Greek and Roman motto, "a sound mind in a sound body."

"They believed mental and moral character were derived through physical discipline. The spirit of this motto is the basis for the foundation of La Palestra’s philosophy," the company's website says.

New clients will receive orthopedic scans and meet with fitness specialists, behavioral specialists, registered dietitians and internists, who tailor fitness programs specifically for them, Perry said.

Clients also take physiological exams every six months to assess their progress.

La Palestra operates private facilities in five residential buildings across Manhattan in addition to their public gym at the Center for Preventative Medicine at the Hotel Des Artistes on the Upper West Side.

Midtown’s Community Board 5 voted Thursday to recommend approving the Plaza's application for the new club.