By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

ERLANGER - Silverlake Family Recreation Center will embark on a $1 million expansion this fall and is planning an outdoor waterpark and swimming pool to open in 2004.

The projects continue Silverlake's growth spurt that started when new owners - three Northern Kentucky natives who graduated from Dixie High School - took over the Kenton Lands Road facility in July 2001.

"We're working to make this a total family fitness experience," said Rob Beil, who owns the center along with partners Mark Pike and Chris Derry. The three also own Better Bodies, a fitness and workout center on Grandview Drive in Fort Mitchell, and Northern Kentucky Elite, a cheerleading training center in the former Town & Country Soccer indoor field on Dixie Highway in Park Hills.

Silverlake now offers indoor swimming with one of the few 50meter pools in the state, a smaller and warmer pool for water aerobics, workout rooms with treadmills and steppers, a gym with basketball and volleyball courts, an indoor walking track, free weights, personal training, gymnastics, programs for children and free child care for members.

Beil said shortly after taking over Silverlake, the new owners expanded workout and other areas. The new expansion will include locker rooms that are unlike typical changing areas.

"These are very private compared to what people are used to," Beil said. "No more gang showers. Each shower has an individual stall, so it's more private. We'll also have individual changing rooms with showers, bathrooms and changing tables that an entire family can use at one time."

The expansion also includes an upgrade of the cafe. Construction will begin in about two months and be completed by middle to late next year.

By the end of 2004, work is scheduled to be completed on an outdoor pool that Beil described as an "aquatic entertainment center" similar to the public waterpark recently opened in Florence.

"But ours won't be opened to the public, it will be for members only, so it won't be as crowded," he said.

A family membership at Silverlake costs $82.95 a month. Memberships are also available that include Better Bodies and the cheerleading training camp.

Mick Lewis of Fort Thomas began coming to Silverlake when his daughter Franny, 7, started swimming for the Northern Kentucky Clippers swim team, which practices at the center's pool.

"We like it so much we joined," said Lewis, whose sons Jason, 11, and Samson, 9, hustled past him into the gym. "I can work out and the kids can play ball, swim or do a lot of other things. It's really geared toward families here."

E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com