A fitness center with a unique, upscale experience is in the works at Florida State University with a slated spring 2026 opening.
And it won’t be your typical gym.
FSU has plans of turning its former bookstore located under the Woodward Avenue parking garage on campus into a “pay-to-play” membership-only boutique fitness studio – one that will possibly offer workouts such as Pilates, yoga and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Construction is currently underway as the new workout area is expected to open in January.
But while the center will be on FSU’s campus, the university will be turning it over to a third-party group in October through a partnership, according to FSU Vice President for Student Affairs Amy Hecht. Details about the partnership have not yet been announced.
“We’re still working out the name, but it is going to be very cool and interesting to students, faculty, staff and community members,” Hecht said during an Aug. 28 Board of Trustees committee meeting at the Turnbull Conference Center on campus.
A boutique fitness studio is a small, specialized gym that focuses on group exercise and just a couple types of workouts for a more personalized, community-focused experience.
The main reason behind the initiative is to meet the needs of FSU students who have expressed concerns about current fitness areas on campus through FSU Campus Recreation – the Bobby E. Leach Student Recreation Center and the Fitness & Movement Clinic – oftentimes being overcrowded. With a new, trendy workout area on campus, it would become an additional option for campus community members who prefer a class-based setting for exercise.
The future fitness center will be situated on Woodward Avenue next to the FSUCard Center – a centralized location on campus right across the street from the Student Union building that has been housing the new FSU bookstore since fall 2022. Since the fitness center will be class-based, individuals won’t be able to go and work out at any given time since classes will be reservation-only.
FSU’s Division of Student Affairs hopes to sell out memberships this fall so that students and other members of the campus can begin using the space in the spring when it opens. Also, the division is looking to ensure that the membership price point is comparable to what students are paying for off-campus workout spaces.
Gym chains such as Planet Fitness and Crunch Fitness have membership fees that typically start at around $10 a month, with other plan options costing as high as $35 a month for greater benefits. These workout centers also have annual fees that range from $50 to $90, but it is unclear how much the new FSU center will be charging its members.
Depending on the success of the boutique fitness center – which is expected to have 800 to 900 members at first – a portion of sales would go towards FSU Campus Recreation during the third year of its existence, Hecht said at a previous trustees meeting.
The university will start marketing to promote the boutique fitness center in October ahead of the January opening.
Tarah Jean is the higher education reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY Network – Florida. She can be reached at tjean@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @tarahjean_.