A New York-based social wellness club plans to open facilities coast to coast, betting the experiences it offers are the right fit for Americans these days as the company plots its expansion.
Bathhouse said it intends sites at the Bellevue hotel on Walnut Street in Philadelphia this year, working with institutional investment manager Lubert-Adler to take over space previously occupied by jewelry brand Tiffany & Co. Bathhouse is also collaborating with Minnesota developer Swervo Development Corp. to create a ground-up project in Minneapolis by early 2027.
Those are some of the more than half a dozen locations the company plans to open across the country over the next two years, with most expected to fill between 30,000 square feet and 45,000 square feet, Bathhouse co-founder Travis Talmadge told CoStar News in a phone interview.
High-end communal sauna culture is heating up around the country, inspired in part by concepts such as Turkish hammams, Japanese onsens and Korean jjimjilbangs.
"The goal was to take something that's been around literally for 7,000 years and is a big part of people's way of life in other parts of the world, pretty much everywhere except for America, and redefine that for a modern American audience," Talmadge said. He emphasized that his company's facilities are not spas, but instead serve as social centers, less focused on traditional relaxation and more on achieving positive health outcomes.
Future locations would feature the same core amenity areas, including indoor pools with varying temperatures, saunas, a steam room and a massage program that resembles physical therapy, the company said. Build-outs of such spaces can be complicated, as they involve a lot of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and plumbing systems, and intricate electrical connections. Most future locations would also have a food and beverage concessions component.
National expansion
The first Bathhouse location opened in 2019 at 103 N. 10th St. in Brooklyn. The brand also operates a 36,000-square-foot facility in New York City's Flatiron District.
Other locations slotted to open this year include:
- 540 Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn, New York.
- a ground-up, 20,000-square-foot facility in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, in partnership with Connell Co.
- a ground-up facility on West Madison Street in Chicago, in partnership with Harrison Street Asset Management.
Additional locations slated for 2027 include:
- A ground-up location in Nashville, Tennessee, in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood, in partnership with AJ Capital Partners.
- a ground-up location in Stamford, Connecticut, in the Harbor Point area, in partnership with Building and Land Technology.
- a nearly 100,000-square-foot facility on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles' Hollywood neighborhood.
Bathhouse's Talmadge said his team targets dense urban cores. The company is also considering Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, San Diego and Washington, D.C., for expansion.