Cleveland Hotel looks 'snappy'

High-tech equipment housed inside a historic shell marks a new chapter in the rebirth of Conneaut's Cleveland Hotel.

Snap Fitness, a franchise exercise/health club, is the first tenant in the old hotel and provided evidence a renovation plan more than two years in the making can bear fruit.

Treadmills, stationary bicycles and weight-training machines fill the street-level business inside the hotel at State Street and Cleveland Court. A grand opening celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday allowed the public to visit watch members already on the Snap Fitness roster put the devices through their paces.

The club's sophisticated machines and television screens tucked inside were quite a contrast to the rest of the circa-1900 building. Robert Miller, owner of the business, likes the variety.

"It's a challenge with a historic building," he said. "But it's worth it. It's exciting to be a piece of history."

Miller, who also owns Snap Fitness centers in two Pennsylvania communities -- Edinboro and North East -- said people instantly can pinpoint the Conneaut location.

"The whole town is aware of the Cleveland Hotel," he said. "I've met people who told me they worked here in the 1930s."

Some traces of the old exist amid the new. A large area that contains the club's free weights room may boast nice carpeting and new dumbbells, but the ceiling has been in place since the hotel opened a century ago..

"It's great that we could keep the original ceiling," Miller said.

A company that specializes in restoring decades-old property, Lighthouse Historical, purchased the downtown hotel in 2005. Restoration work began in earnest in late spring.

Snap Fitness, which occupies the bulk of the hotel storefronts, is just the first phase of the overhaul. Workers are busy converting hotel rooms on the second and third floors into condominiums. More than two dozen condos will be the result.

Some buyers could take possession before the end of the year, officials have said.

Snap Fitness provides individual and family memberships, and is open 24 hours a day. Each member receives an electronic card key that provides front door access and automatically turns on lights if the club is dark.

Eric Showalter is the Conneaut club's manager and he will be assisted by fitness experts who can dispense advice on exercise and nutrition.

The owner is no stranger to Conneaut. While his family lived in Linesville, Pa., his father was a mail carrier in Conneaut and the entire clan often visited Township Park beach.

Miller said he is pleased with the reception Snap Fitness -- and the hotel -- has enjoyed. "We have more than 100 members already," Miller said.