A Look Inside the New and Improved Sporting Club at the Bellevue

The Sporting Club at the Bellevue will reopen to members on November 6th. / Photography by Laura Brzyski

It has been nearly three years since the Sporting Club at the Bellevue has seen members working out, playing pick-up basketball, or swimming laps in its indoor pool. The fitness and health complex on Broad Street — which was founded in 1989 — was forced to close in March of 2020 because of the pandemic before reopening in October, only to re-shutter two months later.

“When we closed for the second time, the owners and I decided it was a good time to renovate,” Fran Cassidy, the Sporting Club’s general manager, tells me. “It was something we had wanted to do for a while, and we decided to renovate everything at once to create something new and dynamic.”

Construction began in September 2021 and finally, a little over two years later, the reimagined Sporting Club is set to debut.

Ahead of its soft open on November 6th, I got the chance to tour the “new” Sporting Club. Below, a sneak peek of what members can expect from the long-awaited makeover and grand reopening.

A rendering of the Sporting Club’s entry space, complete with a front desk and retail area. / Renderings courtesy of the Sporting Club at the Bellevue

When you first walk in, you’ll find a front desk and retail space, a cafe that’ll serve healthy grab-and-go items like wraps and smoothies, an area for lounging or working (there are plenty of couches, chairs, and a high-top long table with seats), a conference room that can be reserved, a balcony overlooking Broad Street, and SC Kids, a separate babysitting room. There’ll also be a barbershop and blow-dry salon, but those are still in the works. (This section of the club was still being worked on when I visited, which is why I’ve included renderings. It’s almost done, though!)

A rendering of the cafe and lounge

A rendering of the seating area near the cafe

The same floor boasts men’s and women’s locker rooms, showers, saunas and steam rooms, plus a 25-meter, four-lane lap pool that’ll see open swim, lessons, family swim, and aquatics classes, and a co-ed hot tub and cold plunge. The pool area is still under construction — but from what I saw, they are hard at work! — and will not be ready to open by November 6th.

A rendering of the Sporting Club’s four-lane indoor lap pool

The second floor is home to a lot. We’re talking shared basketball and pickleball courts; two international regulation squash courts; a club room outfitted with a bar, lounge seating, and table games like pool, foosball, and bubble hockey; and a golf “pavilion” with three reservation-only golf simulators (there’ll be instructors on-site so you can take lessons), a hitting net, and a free-to-use putting green.

Joint basketball and pickleball courts / Photograph courtesy of the Sporting Club at the Bellevue

Sporting Club employee Arnold Poblete testing out one of the golf simulators.

There are also six fitness studios dedicated to specific modalities: boxing, spinning, reformer/tower-based Pilates, TRX, hot yoga, and non-heated yoga. According to Cassidy, there’ll be 159 fitness classes per week — all of which are included in membership.

Indoor cycling room

The Pilates room is home to 11 reformers.

The boxing studio

The third floor is home to two additional studios for workouts like barre, Zumba, cardio kickboxing, and HIIT, and the crown jewel of the club: the 10,100-square-foot fitness floor. The massive space features a brand-new turf for functional training, 143 pieces of state-of-the-art cardio, selectorized strength, and Olympic training equipment, plus a plush lounge area.

The brand-new turf area / Photograph courtesy of the Sporting Club at the Bellevue

The fitness floor features equipment from Technogym.

Overlooking the fitness floor is a resurfaced track — Cassidy says 11 times around is a mile — and there’s also a private event space featuring an outdoor terrace that will see al fresco fitness classes.

Members can also enjoy on-site nutrition counseling from a registered dietitian and therapies from NovaCare Rehabilitation. (Both are extra charges.)

Membership starts at $175 per person per month, with an initiation fee of $425. Or, you can opt for the executive membership — it includes two complimentary guest passes per month, a private locker room and lounge with an attendant and personalized permanent locker, free laundry and shoeshine services, and conference room privileges — for $375 per month, plus a $675 initiation fee.

From now through December 1st, though, the initiation fee is discounted to $275 for club membership and $425 for executive membership. For both members and soon-to-be members, the first month of dues will be applied to December.

The Sporting Club at the Bellevue is located at 224 South Broad Street in Center City. Starting November 6th, its hours of operation are 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays, and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays.