SWEAT Fitness Closing Arch Street Gym, Opening Midtown Village Flagship 


A rendering of the entrance to SWEAT Fitness's new Midtown Village location.

A rendering of the entrance to SWEAT Fitness’s new Midtown Village location.

We’ve talked about this before: With the influx of boutique fitness studios (Hi, SLT, CorePower, SoulCycle, and so on), it’s a bit rough out there for big gyms right now. But the folks at SWEAT Fitness — the Philly-area gym with eight locations, that’s been alive and kicking for 20 years — tell us they’re making a move to meld the best of boutique fitness and big gym in their new flagship location, coming to Broad Street this winter.

This coming February, SWEAT will open a new 25,000-square-foot location at 1 South Broad Street. SWEAT Fitness president Tracy Shannon describes the flagship gym location as a sort of one-stop shop for the specialty classes you’d find at a boutique fitness studio (think: Spin, barre, apparatus Pilates, and more), and top-of-the-line gym equipment to get your solo workout on with (think: Woodway treadmills, and so on).

sweat spin

A rendering of the Spin studio at the new SWEAT location.

The good news of a shiny new gym coming to Midtown Village doesn’t come without some bad news, though (life’s all about balance, right?): SWEAT Fitness will be closing their location at 1425 Arch Street on December 31st after 10 years in that space. On the bright side, the new location is just a few blocks away.

Now, back to exactly what that new location will look like. The 25,000-square-foot, two-floor space will feature a lobby complete with a fitness boutique (SWEAT has their own fitness apparel line in the works, Shannon tells us); three “boutique-style” fitness classrooms (one for Spin, one for barre and one for their other Group Ex classes); a large turf area, complete with an area for their SweatX small group-training program (think: their version of CrossFit); a track; and your typical cardio and strength-training equipment. Shannon says she expects their group class schedule will double from what they currently offer at their Arch Street location.

sweat lounge

A rendering of the Lounge at the new SWEAT location.

As Shannon says, “The boutiques chip away at us a bit, but you still need a gym.” So her idea is to offer folks who have their gym memberships, but also stray to boutique fitness studios for classes, everything they want under one roof.

When it comes to the feel of the new flagship location, Shannon says, “SWEAT Fitness has been around for 20 years. This [location] will bring us up to date. Our idea is to have a very clean, open feel. We want to deliver the boutique style, where it feels very sleek, clearly on a larger scale.”

The new SWEAT Fitness location is slated to open on February 1st, 2017. So go ahead and add it your list of big gyms to keep an eye out for this winter, along with City Fitness’s new Fishtown location and Retro Fitness’s Spring Garden gym.

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