PENDLETON – Neal Simpson looks at the old gym of the Roundup Athletic Club and chuckles a bit.

“We used to play basketball in here,” said Simpson, the RAC’s general manager, pointing at an old basketball hoop with no rim. “If you touched the wall you were out. As you can tell it was a little crowded in here.”

The old gym has long since been used for other activities and a new basketball gym was built in 1996. Soon this room will house an exercise video game for children called Game Bikes. It’s part of the RAC’s newest renovations that will be completed by June.

Things have changed at the RAC since it opened in 1978. It grew and made renovations in 1985, then again in 1996. And now the RAC – which claims to be “Eastern Oregon’s finest athletic club” is about to become a little bigger.

The RAC is adding 5,000 square feet as well as renovating 7,000 square feet in total. This includes a new 3,000-square-foot aerobics room with new lighting and flooring. Renovation and expansion of the physical therapy center is taking place. New electrical wiring and heating is being put in and a remodeled snack bar/lounge with a new smoothie bar are almost finished.

The renovations cost around $2.3 million, Simpson said.

The RAC has around 4,500 members – about a quarter of Pendleton’s population – which is three times the market average for fitness club memberships in a community, according to Simpson. The national average is about 8 percent, he said.

Although the club is getting bigger, most of the money is going into electrical and heating improvements.

“A ton of dough is being put into behind the scenes,” Simpson said. “Twenty eight years of chlorine and humidity has done a number on it.”

The aerobics room should be ready by April 23. The room is painted red and will include Teraflex sport flooring – a soft, rubbery material used in Olympic volleyball matches.

“This is a high intensity room,” Simpson said. “We’ll try to pump you up in here.”

Other additions include a new massage therapy room. Simpson said it will be ready with a massage therapist by late May.

On the other side of the building the expansion of the physical therapy center is under construction. The center, which is run by St. Anthony’s Hospital, will have more room and more modern amenities, expanding from 3,000 square feet to 7,000. The center will include five treatment rooms.

“We’ll be the biggest physical therapy and athletic club combination in the northwest,” Simpson said.

Upstairs, one of the racquetball courts is being converted into a spinning room. Simpson said more than 20 bikes will be able to fit in the room.

The remodeled lounge, which is almost complete, has a flat screen television. Soon members will be able to purchase smoothie drinks.

All the construction, which began in November, has put a strain on some people. Five personal trainers are working out of a “multi-purpose” room, which used to be a lounge. Earlier this year a trench to install wiring had to be dug through the men’s locker room. Fitness classes have been moved to other smaller rooms. But the club has been able to run relatively smooth during this transition period, Simpson said.

“There’s been some challenges,” Simpson said. “We take one area at a time and do our best.”

With this current expansion almost complete, Simpson is already looking ahead to make improvements in the future. About 4,000 square feet could be ready in the near future for a new weight room and fitness center.

Monthly dues are not anticipated for rise significantly, Simpson said. He anticipated maybe a $1 increase for individual members and a $2 increase for families. But Simpson expects an increase in business, which might offset costs allowing them not to raise rates.

“We’re seeing growth,” Simpson said. “We’ve always got about a 10 percent bump every time we upgrade. I’m hoping that happens again.”