Rittenhouse's Long-Empty Rooms Are Reopening as Places to Spend a Winter Hour

One flight up from 15th and Chestnut, inside the Packard Grande, there's a hall with a turquoise ceiling, carved stone columns and door handles shaped like lion heads. The 1924 mezzanine sat empty for a few years after its last corporate tenant left. It now holds three golf simulators and a putting green. A few blocks away, under Walnut Street, the Bellevue's old basement food court has been rebuilt as saunas and pools.

Both spaces are hard to see from the sidewalk, and neither has a storefront window. That made them hard to rent as shops. It doesn't matter to a business whose customers book a time slot before they leave home. Across Rittenhouse this fall, the rooms that stayed empty longest are being taken by tenants that sell an hour. Some let you walk in. Many want a membership first.

Below Walnut, the Old Food Court Now Runs Hot

Bathhouse opened at 1418 Walnut St. on Sept. 25. Fitler Focus confirmed the opening in early October. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer's preview, the 36,000-square-foot space is the largest standalone wellness complex in Philadelphia and the brand's first location outside New York City.

Here's what's inside:

• Three saunas: a 140-degree infrared room, a 190-degree Russian banya heated by a wood stove, and a 180-degree dry "event sauna"
• A steam room
• Hot and neutral pools, plus a cold plunge
• Massage rooms, by appointment
• A cafe serving smoothies, beer, natural wine and light bites

The event sauna hosts aufguss sessions. In this German ritual, a sauna master melts snowballs soaked in essential oil on hot stones, then whips towels through the air to move the scent around the room. Bathhouse told the Inquirer it expected to run these about every 90 minutes. Co-founder Travis Talmadge also told the paper what kind of place it is: "There's nothing relaxing about sitting in a 200-degree room or a 45-degree pool."

Of everything on this list, this is the easiest one to try. Day passes start at $29, and the price changes with the day and time. Before it opened, Philadelphians who wanted more than a small sauna at the back of a gym usually drove out to Southampton Spa in Bucks County or Chung Dam Spa in Cheltenham, the Inquirer noted. Now the trip is a walk to Broad and Walnut. A rooftop pool and sauna are planned for a later phase.

The building itself shows the pattern. The Bellevue already has the Bellevue Sporting Club, an upscale gym with its own saunas and cold plunge, and the hotel's marketing head told the Inquirer that Bathhouse is "a complement" to it. One address now has two ways to sweat: a gym membership upstairs and a pay-per-visit pass downstairs.

One Flight Up, the Old Bank Hall Has a Short Game

Philadelphia Golf Club comes from the team behind Brooklyn's Gowanus Golf Club. It takes a different approach from Bathhouse. The club is members-only, open 24/7 by fob, and has no staff on site. Membership is capped at 100. The 3,200-square-foot room has three private TrackMan simulator bays, lockers and a large putting green. Founding members got their keys on Sept. 25.

The club's website lists three founding tiers, each with a higher standard rate later:

The gap between rates is widest on the Unlimited tier, where the standard price is $400 more than the founding price. Basic and Premium each go up by $50.

A second indoor golf club is coming nearby. The Caddie Room has taken the long-dark former BB&T corner at One Penn Center, 1617 JFK Blvd., and calls itself a "private living room in the middle of Center City." It plans two enclosed TrackMan simulators, a putting green and entry by pin code. Founding memberships start at $200 a month off-peak and $350 for full access, and the club plans to cap membership at about 120. It's expected in early 2027. Both clubs took rooms that had been empty, and both chose to limit how many members they'll take.

Walk In, Book Ahead, or Join

The new tenants fall into three groups, depending on how you get through the door. This table lists the venues covered here with the space each one replaced:

Tidal Force VR is the one to plan around a group. The New York free-roam VR operator is moving into the former Kids Foot Locker on Chestnut with multiplayer games built for up to six people per room. Sandbox VR and Time Mission are already nearby, and Rittenhouse Ramblings has started calling the stretch Philly's "unofficial holodeck district."

No Name Social is the late-night version. The members-only after-hours spot serves cocktails to house music from 11 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. in the former Chika Ramen space on Sansom. That space had been dark since March 2025.

The Fitness Studios Are Next

Group fitness follows the same logic. A class studio works on a second floor or a side-street corner because members arrive at a set time. Four are on the way, roughly in order of their announced dates:

1. Together Athletics, 320 S. Broad St. The Old City studio set Nov. 7 for the grand opening of its new location, on Rittenhouse's eastern edge. The schedule includes Center City Mat Sculpt and Cardio Mat classes, and the brand's method also covers Reformer work. It was founded by a former Division I field hockey player and her husband, and its motto is "Pilates is a sport."
2. Alpha Fit Club, 2300 Chestnut St. This New Jersey brand runs 60-minute coached circuits capped at 36 people, built on 13-week training cycles. It's expected late in 2026.
3. Pvolve, 1735 Market St. A longevity-focused studio with sculpt, cardio and heavy-weight formats, also expected late in 2026.
4. HiLo House, 26 S. 20th St. Delaware County's Lagree Megaformer and VersaClimber studio is taking over the former Unite Fitness space. Its target is late 2026 or early 2027.

Even the New Shops Are Making Room to Stay

Some street-level storefronts are going back to retail. Rothy's opened at 1613 Walnut St. on Oct. 13, in the space Pandora had held for a decade. EyeBuyDirect is building out 1421 Walnut St. That former Swarovski space had been dark since around 2022.

Many of the newer shops have also set aside space for spending time, the same thing the basement and mezzanine tenants sell:

• Mitchell & Ness opened its three-story flagship at 1513 Walnut St. this year. Philadelphia Magazine describes a floor of sports-history displays and a third floor set aside for community events like athlete meet-and-greets.
• Page Burners Bookstore, a romance-only shop, is downstairs at Mad Cat Brewtique, 2036 Sansom St. Its calendar includes book clubs, author signings, trivia and crafting nights.
• Gregg's of Philadelphia, a vintage streetwear shop at 401 S. 16th St., buys and trades clothes as well as selling them. It's open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.
• Vestige, the Frankford Avenue boutique that calls itself a gathering space as much as a store, is running a holiday pop-up called The Vestige Salon at the historic Yarnall House, 235 S. 17th St., for November and December. Despite the name, it's a shop, not a hair salon. Expect designer and vintage clothing, ceramics, candles and books.

The cheapest hour in the neighborhood this month is free and outdoors. On Saturday, Nov. 14, the Friends of Rittenhouse Square need volunteers to plant bulbs in the square, 1800 Walnut St., from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

If you own a Rittenhouse property with a basement, mezzanine or second-floor hall that never worked as a shop, Michael Prince can show you who's leasing rooms like it this year and build a marketing plan around what makes yours different. List with Michael.