NYC Luxury Gym Chain Equinox’s First Philly Location Is (Finally) Under Construction
Equinox Rittenhouse is slated to open this fall, two years after The Laurel was completed as planned and just slightly delayed.
The rumors are true: Equinox is slated to open this fall in the building known as The Laurel.
Update – November 11th: We’re hearing that they’re aiming for a January launch although they won’t officially confirm it. But construction is always tricky, so we get it! However, in looking at the most recent photo, we’re VERY hopeful that we’ll get our 1st Philly Equinox just in time for our New Year’s resolutions to be fulfilled (well, that’s less likely TBH).
Update – March 15th: The new Equinox manager, Jason Nguyen, shared some pics, news AND pricing (and an update on that update is below). So read on…
It looks like Equinox is brining it’s urban aesthetics to Philly, and honestly, Rittenhouse is the perfect place for that, right?
The showers look cool. You can almost smell the scented towels (IYKYK).
This is neat – it looks like the Philly Equinox will have a co-working space? NOW let’s chat about the nitty gritty details (well, what we know).
- Opening is still slated for this fall.
- Virtual tours available via appointment with Jason who is working out of 1909 Walnut.
Initiation fee of $300 could be waived; usually other gyms have an initiation fee so this is pretty cool as it’s a well-known brand.- They’re also looking to potentially work with nearby businesses to become part of our local ecosystem.
Oh, and pricing? It looks pretty nice for Founding Members.
UPDATE – 3/21: Equinox PR reached out to us to let us know that the pricing is evolving, and that the screenshot we had shared previously was not their current pricing. New pricing apparently is coming next week 🙂
Super excited as their opening will make the area around the Square look even nicer.
The Rittenhouse location – it’s first in Pennsylvania – was originally slated to open this summer but ongoing construction at The Laurel which is the condo building whose lower floors are rentals, known as 1909 Walnut, delayed their construction.
However, the Equinox Rittenhouse location was always supposed to open two years after The Laurel was complete. That completion took a while because they had finished the condos and apartments but the construction on their outdoor terraces and in particular their pools (yes, they have two) took longer.
Residents at the two buildings will get special pricing but each building has its own gym and pool (the only “amenity” they share is discounted parking), so a free membership to Equinox is not in the cards. The 1909 Walnut location had a smaller-sized gym so it wouldn’t be surprising if residents flock to the new Equinox, especially since they have a ton (rumor again) of ex-New Yorkers like yours truly.
Back to new about the gym: it’s slated to have a spa, Pilates studio (we can never have enough of those, right?), a cycling studio, and the normal offerings a luxury gym has, like personal training and eucalyptus-scented towels (IYKYK).
These are their plans for 2024:
- Construction is underway
- Showroom to open this spring
- Presale begins this summer
- Equinox opens this fall
Source: Reddit
So far, we haven’t heard of a pool (imagine having three pools in one building!) or anything that will make it uniquely different from the other locations. But we can hope!
You know we love watching construction happen so we’ll keep you posted on their plans and progress.
