Bathhouse Is Turning 36,000 Dead Square Feet in the Bellevue's Basement Into Philadelphia's Biggest Wellness Play

Bathhouse opens its first Philadelphia location September 25 inside The Bellevue at Broad and Walnut, taking over roughly 36,000 square feet of basement space that had sat dark since its old food court closed. The build includes three pools, three thermal rooms, a steam room, private massage rooms and a café, backed by $35 million from Imaginary Ventures. It's the company's first location outside New York, after Williamsburg and Manhattan.

The play is the same one golf simulators and boutique fitness have run through Center City's stalled floors for years. A wellness concept at this scale wants clear height, plumbing capacity and total control over sound and moisture, all of which a dead basement already has, at rent no retail tenant would pay for windowless square footage. Day passes start at $29, and an outdoor terrace with a fourth sauna is already planned for early 2027.

A single tenant taking 36,000 square feet inside one of Broad Street's most recognizable buildings is a signal on where demand for below-grade space is actually landing. If you're holding lower-level or windowless square footage anywhere near that corridor, wellness and experiential operators are underwriting it at a scale retail stopped matching years ago.

Scouting fitness studio space? The same questions on ceiling height, plumbing and zoning apply.