Minneapolis-based Snap Fitness says it wants to nearly double its 12-center Middle Tennessee network over the next five years. Local franchisee Bill Hancock recently opened the company's latest 24/7 club on North Mt. Juliet Road. Snap Fitness' facilities are small, ranging between just 2,500 to 3,000 square feet, and don't require contracts.

“We offer a fitness product that gives members the basics and screams value,” said Bill Hancock, owner of the new Snap Fitness club in Mt. Juliet. “People are always drawn to value. It’s a strong word in this industry and it gets undermined often.”

SEE ALSO: Lebanon truck stop getting fitness center from late last month

The Haslam family’s Pilot Flying J chain of gas stations is teaming with two companies from the fitness world to develop gyms at a number of its locations. The second center in the collaboration with Snap Fitness and wellness firm Rolling Strong will host a grand opening Jan. 31 off Interstate 40 in Lebanon. Monthly gym dues are $19.95 for the trucking community, money that also gets them access to the 1,300 other Snap Fitness clubs worldwide.

“The Snap Fitness Rolling Strong gyms are designed to accommodate the trucking community and those who travel frequently for business or vacation, so they can get the workouts they need quickly and conveniently,” said Peter Taunton, CEO and Founder of Snap Fitness. “We hope these express fitness centers will help thousands of daily travelers achieve their fitness goals and get better results while on the road.”

John Lancaster has plenty of reasons to smile these days. The president and CEO of Lebanon-based First Freedom Bank and his team have put a bow on a year when their net income grew more than 50 percent, their net interest margin topped 4 percent and they bid adieu to TARP.

HealthSpring announced today its has opened a patient-centered LivingWell Center in Lebanon.

The new center, which initially will serve almost 2,400 local members, is exclusive to HealthSpring members and will serve as a complementary extension of the members’s primary care physicians to focus on preventive care and patient education.

“Our vision in establishing the LivingWell Center is to deliver a completely personalized health care experience tailored to each one of our members,” Greg Allen, president of Nashville-based HealthSpring of Tennessee, said in a release.

Panattoni Development's Beckwith Farms project in Mt. Juliet is in the hunt for a 700,000-square-foot expansion project at global logistics giant Ceva, a move that would bring with it more than 400 jobs. If Ceva makes the call, Panattoni will fill the space between its current buildings with a new structure for the company. Getahn Ward writes that the deal also could involve the transfer of almost 500 people who had worked for Dell until the computer maker outsourced its fulfillment operations to Ceva.

Two weeks ago, the Wilson County Commission’s budget committee also proposed a six-year break on taxes on the land, building and equipment inside, which took into account additional sales tax revenue, a projected growth in home sales and any spin-off jobs that would be created by the move.

First Freedom Bank in Lebanon has a new set of shareholders following the auction last week by the U.S. Treasury of the stake it took in the bank under the TARP umbrella several years ago. Investors last week paid almost $8.3 million for the government's First Freedom preferred shares, 92.5 percent of par value. That's a good bit better than what the Treasury received in late September when it auctioned off its $18 million investment in the parent of Clarksville's F&M Bank.