Inside Look: New Fitness Center FAQs

The new Palmetto Bluff Club Fitness Center is close enough to feel real, and far enough out to raise a lot of fair questions. I’m Jeff Ford, and this quick bonus FAQ gives you a clean, no-spin update on where we are right now, what’s happening behind the scenes, and what you can expect as we move from final inspections to full program use. If you’ve been wondering about timelines, equipment move-in, and when we’ll share an official opening date, this is the most direct update we can give today.

We also dig into what members care about most once the doors open: the workouts. You’ll hear how our four signature group fitness classes are designed and why they exist as a “core menu” for the community: PB Mixed, PB Cardio, PB Strong, and PB Recover. The goal is simple and measurable: build strength, improve cardiovascular health, and support recovery with programming that helps you pick what fits your goals and what you actually enjoy doing.

Then we get practical: parking near the facility including golf cart parking, bike access with a new connection in progress, and hours that make early mornings and late evenings possible. We lay out the plan for daily key card access from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., front desk staffing windows, and the fitness cafe schedule for smoothies, juices, and healthy grab-and-go. Finally, we clarify what stays open and what evolves at Canoe Club, Moreland Studio, and the neighborhood gyms, including the shift toward a Pilates Reformer studio to expand class options.

Subscribe so you don’t miss the next Inside Look updates, and if this answered one question but sparked another, share the episode and leave a review with what you want us to cover next.

Transcript

Welcome And Why This Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Welcome back to Behind the Bluff and another episode in our Inside Look Fitness Center series. I'm Jeff Ford, and today's episode is a quick bonus conversation focused entirely on some of the many common questions we've been hearing from members about the new Palmetto Bluff Club Fitness Center. From opening timelines and class offerings to parking, access, hours of operation, and what's happening with our existing fitness spaces, we know there's a lot of excitement and curiosity around this next chapter. So in this episode, I'll walk you through some of the key updates, clarify what you can expect, and hopefully give you a better sense of how this new facility will support wellness, movement, and connection across the bluff. I want to thank you so much for being a part of the journey with us, and let's jump in to the FAQs. This is a popular question. We are in our final stages of completion and still awaiting final approval to open the facility for full program use. The great news is that the team and I were over there yesterday afternoon assembling dumbbell racks, cubbies for member belongings, and starting to move in a lot of the equipment that we had on hand in anticipation of the opening happen soon. So we've been given full approval to move equipment in and get started there. And once we have a better handle on an official date where we feel everything is fully ready, we will be sure to inform the entire community. What's very exciting is next week, May 18th, we will be getting all of the new strength equipment in and all of the functional training space equipment as well. So we're gonna at least get everything in there. And as we move through these final stages of getting inspections approved and getting the facility ready for the wellness program, the fitness cafe, all of the tail end details. We are looking very much forward to sharing the space with you. Second key question What are the new classes going to be like? Well, we have more inside look episodes coming very soon. And the three classes that I'm most excited about are our signature classes. And we could say there's four signature classes now at Palmetto Bluff that will be launched upon the opening of this facility. We will be having what's called PB Mixed, PB Cardio, PB Strong, and PB Recover. What makes a signature class? These are the classes that seem to be the most popular amongst our membership, and they are very fleshed out to the degree of eliciting positive change in building muscle mass, improving cardiovascular health, and of course helping your body bounce back with our PB Recover class. So stay tuned on the short episodes that are specific to those four signature classes. In those episodes, we plan on explaining the purpose, structure, and the benefits of each class to help you, the member, better understand the programming and be able to choose what fits best for your goals. And also what do you enjoy? The most exciting part is that our classes offer a variety of benefit to enjoyment and to progress. So the good news is you're gonna have so much more selection and ability to get into the classes that you would like to participate in with the increase in capacities. So stay tuned. Third key question: what should we know about parking, bike access, and getting to the new facility? Well, at our new Palmetto Bluff Club Fitness Center, there will be designated parking available near the facility, including golf cart parking. Already in progress is a new bike path connection. And this is going to simplify your access. We've got the bike racks already set up, available on site. Jameson Grinrod, one of our teammates, he he worked hard on getting those all put together. So there will be plenty of spots for bikes. And we actually encourage you walking or biking to the facility, especially if you live close by at River Road. I think that'll be a huge benefit, very similar to many of you who may already be commuting via bicycle to the Moreland studio. Fourth key question: What are the hours of operation? Well, what's exciting about this facility is that it will operate very similar to our existing fitness centers. It is open daily from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. via key card access. And it will stay with this access once once we're open. This access will be available. So making sure that it's not right now, but once we are open, 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., you will have access seven days a week. We plan on in the early going staffing the front desk Monday to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. And then the fitness cafe, which will offer smoothies, juices, healthy grab and go. It will be open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. So the only day the cafe will not be open, at least in the early goings, is on Sundays. Fifth key question. Will there still be classes at Canoe Club and Moreland Studio? And what access will we have to the other fitness spaces? Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Classes will continue at Canoe Club and Moreland Studio. Canoe Club classes will focus more on yoga, Pilates, bar, the classes that truly make sense in the element of the space, the windows, the May River. And then Moreland Studio will host more of the non-station circuit type classes. So TRX training, where you have your own TRX and band anchor set, our popular foundational strength class where you have your own matte and dumbbells. And then the beauty of this transition is we're going to be able to offer more matte Pilates classes as well. It's important to know that Moreland Strength, or what some of you may know as Moreland Weight Room, will be transitioning into a Pilates Reformer studio. And the equipment that exists in Moreland Strength today will move into Moreland cardio. So when we transition, it will be called Moreland Fitness Center, which will both have cardio and strength equipment, while the smaller room adjacent will be our Pilates Reformer Studio, which is just going to open up so many more spots in classes and the ability to add reformers in the future. We do plan on sticking with four people per class at this time. And then we also will be setting a standard in place where all of our smaller fitness centers, Canoe Club Fitness Center, Moreland Fitness Center, and Lodge Fitness Center, what I sometimes refer to as the neighborhood gyms, they're going to all still be available to member use. And we are going to have no more than one personal trainer using those spaces during the peak hours of 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. This will allow you that if you want to get in a quick workout, bike ride over, walk over to the closest facility, they're going to be way more opened up for personal self-use, self-guided workouts. As always, thank you for your excitement, patience, and support as we move closer to opening the new Palmetto Bluff Club Fitness Center. This project represents so much more than a new building. It's about creating spaces, programming, and experiences that continue to support the health, wellness, and connection of our community. We'll continue to share updates through Behind the Bluff, Member Communications, and the Club app as information becomes finalized. We cannot wait to welcome you into the new space soon. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you around Pomino Bluff.