Golf Simulators Are Eating Center City's Dead Upper Floors
A members-only golf club from Brooklyn is bringing Trackman bays to Center City. It's the same play boutique fitness ran five years ago.
A members-only golf club out of Brooklyn is opening in Center City with Trackman simulator bays and a putting area, Philadelphia Business Journal reported. It's joining a run of other golf concepts opening around the city this year.
I watched boutique fitness run this exact play five years ago. The concept wants ceiling height, floor load and sound isolation over a storefront window, which means it'll take second-floor and below-grade space a retail tenant would never look at twice. That space rents for less, and this concept sells on the workout itself.
If you're holding upper-floor or lower-level Center City space that's stalled on the retail market, this is the tenant type built for it. Golf, padel and simulator concepts are underwriting the square footage everyone else is skipping.
Source: Philadelphia Business Journal
Why it matters
Simulator and experiential fitness concepts want the space retail tenants pass on. That's a leasing opportunity for awkward floors nobody else is pricing right.
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