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Following a US$85m renovation that saw an iconic tennis club transformed
into an athletics club with a fitness-focused hotel, Chicago’s Midtown Athletic Club
has reopened and it boasts a truly impressive design
By Magali Robathan | Published in Health Club Management 2018 issue 3
This ‘urban sports resort’ offers a wide range of health and wellness amenities
Opened in 1970 by tennis enthusiast Alan Schwartz and his father Kevie Schwartz, Chicago’s Midtown Tennis Club (as it was originally called) quickly built a name within the sport, serving as the home court of Billie Jean King and the site at which Andre Agassi won his first national junior tournament.
While the club offered excellent tennis facilities, the gym remained a small add-on until 2015, when Chicago architectural and interiors practice DMAC Architecture began an ambitious transformation of the tennis club into “the largest premier health-and-fitness property in the US”.
Set across three floors, the refurbished and renamed Midtown Athletic Club – which reopened in November last year – now features 16 indoor tennis courts; studios for a range of activities including yoga, pilates, cycling and boxing; an indoor swimming pool; an outdoor swimming pool, which also serves as an ice rink during the winter; a fitness centre featuring Precor equipment; a full service spa; a 182-seat restaurant and a retail complex.
Above the health club sits a 55 room boutique hotel, occupying the building’s fourth and fifth floors.
“The hotel concept came late in the game, but it was an inspired idea,” says Dwayne MacEwen, founder of DMAC Architecture. “Differing from your typical hotel facility where a small portion of the property is dedicated to amenities, Midtown is 96 per cent amenity and only four per cent hotel. This is a complete gamechanger for both the hotel and club experience.
“The athletics club allows guests to prioritise fitness, not only within one’s own regimen or training programme but within business and leisure travel. The site becomes a reason in itself for travel to Chicago – to be a spectator or to participate in competitions and tournaments.”
He adds: “In many ways, the hotel was designed with the health-conscious and fitness-focused guest in mind. Rather than offering in-room yoga mats like many hotels do, we offer guests the best yoga studio and fitness classes in the country, as well as state-of-the-art equipment and the exciting amenities offered at the club.”
Midtown Athletic Club aims to offer guests a choice of the best group fitness classes in the US
Club guests can train with Precor strength equipment
The exterior and outdoor pool
Changing facilities boast exclusive products and luxury showers
EverybodyFights – a boxing programme designed by George Foreman III is offered at the club
The 55-room Midtown Hotel targets an audience of active travellers, who get free access to the club
A luxurious spa helps guests relax after a tough workout or tennis match
Guests are able to prioritise health and fitness
The facility offers lounge space and a restaurant
The outdoor pool doubles as an ice rink during Chicago’s cold winters
A recent survey by the UK Spa Association (UKSA) into the industry’s approach to cancer care
has revealed that almost half of participating respondents (46 per cent) are unaware that
cancer is a disability and guests with a cancer diagnosis must be given
Mexican operator, Solmar Hotels and Resorts, is hosting a series of events in celebration of
Global Wellness Day, including a Temazcal ceremony at its Playa Grande Resort and Spa in Los
Cabos.
Mandarin Oriental has announced a standalone residence brand, Mansions, which will debut at
Emirates Palace, Mandarin Oriental Mansions, Abu Dhabi, in 2029.
Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai in Hoi An, Vietnam, has put together a Global Wellness Day
(GWD) agenda with activations rooted in nature and shaped by four pillars of Joy – in
alignment with the day’s theme #JoyMagenta.
The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) will celebrate its 20th anniversary at the 2026 event in
Phuket, Thailand, later this year with the theme: The Science, Art and Soul of Wellness.
Auko, an all-inclusive development, is opening in Phong Nha in Vietnam in Q3 2026, with a
series of 30 tented eco-lodges and wellness hospitality operations by Lumina Wellbeing.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Naples Beach Club, a Four Seasons Resort, has opened a 2,800sq m spa called The Sanctuary,
with the design and concept inspired by the Native American people that populated Florida’s
Southwest coast – the Calusa.
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