Rising two stories, with a 5- mile indoor track, a climbing wall stretching from the first to second floor and other amenities, the Workout Club and Wellness Center proposed for Donald Street at Route 114 would have been the first of its kind in Bedford.

The Planning Board got its first look at the concept in 2005. And, when the club owner returned with more detailed plans in August 2006, he hoped to break ground in spring 2007, according to engineer Jeff Kevan.

That never happened.

Instead, after initially approving the project in January 2007, the board had to issue extensions in June and August of that year, said Rick Sawyer, the town planning director.

As the site remains vacant, interest in it has swirled. Sawyer says he has had no official contact with lawyers, engineers or any other commercial speculators eyeing the site.

But Wellness and Workout Club owner Ron Tringale has confirmed that he has been in touch with a number of regional and national companies.

“I will also state that I have been approached from a wide variety of other regional and national players ranging from retail, health food supermarkets, restaurants to stadium seating cinemas/entertainment complexes,” said Tringale.

The level of interest, he said, was more than he could have ever imagined.

“None of these non-medical entities were ever solicited by us and only approached us on their own (volition) due to the intrinsic value of the site as well as the various determined demographic needs of the Bedford community,” said Tringale.

He declined to comment further, but said he remains committed to being in Bedford and is not entertaining expanding his business into any other towns. “Our goal is to have a presence long-term in Bedford,” Tringale said.

Tringale already owns five other Workout Club and Wellness Centers in Derry, Hooksett, Londonderry, Manchester and Salem. The Salem facility just opened in March.

Tringale aired his plans in Salem 2004, receiving conditional site plan approval one year later. The final approvals from the state came in 2006 and construction began in the spring 2007.

He was surprised to find out that it would take two years to get all the necessary approvals in Bedford and Salem, Tringale said. It ended up that he was cleared for construction on both at the same time. Due in part to the slumping economy, he decided to build the Salem one first and hold off on Bedford.

“In this uncertain economic market, it would not have been prudent business to undertake several large projects at the same time,” Tringale said. “We are still putting the final wraps on the Salem project, which, as you might imagine, has taken 110 [percent] of our energies over the past year or longer.”

He did not provide a timeframe for when construction would begin 115,000-square-foot Bedford facility, saying that it depends on the economic conditions and his ability to line up support from the right businesses neighbors.