The Canyons Gets Its First Anchor When Life Time Opens on Canyon Forge Drive

What happens to a corner of Castle Pines when a two-story, 102,600-square-foot building opens on it?

Residents get to find out on Wednesday, Nov. 18. That's the scheduled opening date for Life Time Castle Pines at 7373 Canyon Forge Drive. The club sits in The Canyons east of I-25, near Castle Pines Parkway and Canyonside Boulevard. Planning Commission approved a 24-hour emergency department for the same intersection in October. The city is also partway through rebuilding Castle Pines Parkway, and it has hired a firm to design a gateway monument at the I-25 interchange that leads into The Canyons. The east side of the highway is being built up as the place where Castle Pines handles its weekday routines, starting with this club.

November 18, Pending Final Inspections

Life Time's Castle Pines page reads "Arriving November 18." DougCo Social reported that a waitlist email from the club adds a standard condition. It says the opening is

"planned for Wednesday, November 18, pending the successful completion of final inspections and approvals."

According to the same DougCo Social report, Life Time sent membership invitations to people on the waitlist on Oct. 12 with a same-day enrollment deadline. Anyone who missed it went to the back of the waitlist until more memberships open up, and monthly dues are deferred until the club actually opens. Life Time doesn't publish dues for the club. Its own first-look article does say waitlist members get preferred pricing, described as "a savings on monthly membership dues, which will increase upon the club's opening." If you're timing the cancellation of another gym membership around Nov. 18, DougCo Social suggests asking the club's concierge team for written confirmation, since inspections are the one thing that could still move the date.

Jeff May is the general manager. He previously held the same role at Life Time Parker-Aurora. According to Life Time, this is the company's ninth Colorado club and its eighth in the Denver region.

An Indoor-Season Opening With a Large Indoor Program

A club that opens the week before Thanksgiving opens in indoor season, and this one has a large indoor program. DougCo Social's breakdown lists two indoor pools, a 6-lane lap pool and a 6-lane lesson pool. There are four indoor pickleball courts and more than 120 studio classes a week across six studios. Each of the men's, women's and family locker rooms has dry saunas, steam rooms, whirlpools and cold plunges. The rest of the club is built for summer. The outdoor Beach Club has a zero-depth leisure pool, water slides and a 5-lane lap pool, and five pickleball courts sit outside.

Life Time says a Castle Pines membership also includes access to Life Time Centennial and Life Time Parker-Aurora, each about 15 minutes away. Life Time Parker-Aurora opened in 2008. For years, those two clubs were the closest ones. On Nov. 18 they become the extra locations that come with a Castle Pines membership.

The table below sorts what membership covers from what is billed separately, based on DougCo Social's reading of Life Time's materials.

Some of the club isn't limited to members. LifeSpa Castle Pines is full-service and open to non-members, with skincare, body treatments, hair and nail services and massage. There is no general-access basketball court. The Kids Academy gym has a hoop, but it's for children's programming. The Kids Academy also has infant and toddler rooms, a climbing wall and an outdoor turf play area.

Approved Across the Corner, an ER

On Oct. 22, the Castle Pines Planning Commission approved the site improvement plan for an AdventHealth building at Castle Pines Parkway and Canyon Forge Drive, the intersection Life Time opens onto. DougCo Social reported that the building is a two-story, 24,561-square-foot medical office. The first floor is planned as a 24-hour emergency department and the second floor as clinical space.

A fitness club followed by an emergency department is the kind of pairing that brings residents back to the same area every week. Both sit inside a larger plan. The Castle Pines Connection's August update on Canyonside describes the project as a planned mixed-use town center. The plan calls for 2.1 million square feet of commercial space on 100 acres south of Castle Pines Parkway, plus a commercially zoned 12-acre pad north of the parkway. To the east, The Canyons' Canyon House clubhouse at 1419 Westbridge Drive opened with a restaurant open to the public, according to the Castle Pines Connection.

The City Is Rebuilding the Route In

On the west side of I-25, the city's fall projects are mostly repairs and upgrades. To the east it is getting new buildings. The city is spending to connect the two sides and to mark the way in. As of the city's Oct. 28 update, here is where the work stands:

1. Castle Pines Parkway, westbound, Monarch Boulevard to Forest Park Drive. Reconstruction and waterline replacement started June 1, and all primary waterline work is done. The stretch from Monarch to Deer Clover Drive, which runs past Timber Trail Elementary, reopened Aug. 11. Crews found concrete damage between Forest Park Drive and the Buffalo Trail roundabout, so City Council approved replacing that section with asphalt on July 14.
2. The paving sequence. The city planned to start paving the remaining westbound lanes the week of Nov. 2. Traffic then shifts onto the new westbound pavement, crews remove the eastbound concrete drive lanes and bike lanes, and the eastbound lanes are paved, with that work forecast for mid-November. The city's completion target is fall 2026, weather permitting. Until the shift happens, both directions share the eastbound lanes through the work zone.
3. A gateway at the interchange to The Canyons. At its Oct. 27 meeting, City Council approved a contract with DTJ Design, Inc. to design and engineer a new monument at the northbound I-25 and Castle Pines Parkway interchange.
4. Another monument at Happy Canyon Road and Lagae Road. Work on the monument and landscaping at that roundabout began in late September and continues this fall.
5. The Happy Canyon Road/I-25 interchange. The city's project page shows a diverging-diamond rebuild with a start in late 2026 or early 2027 and completion in mid-2028, pending final CDOT approvals. The city expects intermittent ramp closures and nighttime I-25 closures along the way.

West of I-25, the other major project is an upgrade. Phase 1 of the Coyote Ridge Park improvements, about $5 million covering an inclusive play area, a new baseball field, shade structures and restrooms, began Sept. 8 and is forecast to finish in spring 2027.

For residents of the gated Village at Castle Pines and the west-side neighborhoods along the parkway, the parkway is the road to Canyon Forge Drive. The club's opening week and the end of the paving work are both scheduled for the same stretch of November, so the drive may still run through the work zone for part of it.

Before the Doors Open

DougCo Social lists the hours as to be announced. The club's phone number is 303-942-4600. For a non-member, the spa is the easiest first visit, since LifeSpa Castle Pines books services for anyone. Members starting out can book the free orientations, which include Equipment Orientation, Intro to Personal Training and Intro to TRX. If you're heading over from the west side while paving continues, check the city's Castle Pines Parkway reconstruction page for the current lane setup.

I follow every opening, approval and road project along this corridor because buyers ask about them, and because a home's marketing should reflect what's nearby on the day it lists. If you live in Castle Pines and are thinking about how Canyon Forge Drive's new anchors fit into your home's story, Andrea Wright at WrightToSell would be glad to walk through it with you. Request Your White-Glove Listing Consultation.