Olympic Athletic Club plans to expand, add hotel

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The one-story garage that is currently used for parking by Olympic Athletic Club (OAC) members may soon be torn down.

A Land Use Application has been submitted to demolish the 6,300 square foot garage and replace it with a four-story building. The new building will include 29 hotel rooms, an expanded OAC, 2,650 square feet of retail and parking for 63 cars at and below grade. Mark Durall, the general manager of OAC tells us a little about the 11,850 square foot expansion of the gym. “We will be constructing a second swimming pool that will be 25 meters long and 5 lanes wide, new men’s and women’s locker rooms that will directly access the pool, which will include steam, sauna, and hot tubs, a spa,” Durall says. As for the retail space on the ground floor, Durall says that space will be reserved for a restaurant.

The project still needs several permits including a demolition permit, grading permit and building permit. A SEPA Environmental Determination approval is also required.

This hotel project is in addition to the Starlight Hotel renovation.

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25 thoughts to “Olympic Athletic Club plans to expand, add hotel”

  10. They used this “expansion & renovation” as a selling point to me almost three years ago… Still pretty disappointed by the condition of the club.

  11. About time! That garage is such a waste of valuable land, and OAC definitely could use a 25-meter pool. And with all the new members they’ve been getting we need more space, particularly in the weights department.

  13. I have no idea how crowded the pool is currently, but I find it hard to believe it could be any worse than the cardio equipment, the women’s locker room (which is completely packed during peak times), or the classes (also filled to over-capacity). They desperately need to expand ALL of these areas (and I’m sure you’re right about the weights department, too) OR stop over-selling memberships as they have been.

    When I joined, this was by far the best gym I’d ever been to. Now it’s so packed that it’s a pain to go there.

  14. The pool is bad. They’ve got the board where you can write up your name and all, but what happens is someone writes their name, disappears and doesn’t come back promptly. The next person waits around for a few minutes and says the hell with it and jumps in. Then the person waiting comes back and starts a big stink.

  18. Sounds bad. I’m not saying they don’t need a new pool…just that they need to expand everything else, too. Until they can do that, they should simply stop selling so many memberships…perhaps they should raise thier rates to get a smaller membership base. I would be willing to pay more if it means significantly less crowding.

  20. They’ve had at least two major Groupon promotions in the recent past that are dumping an incredible number of people into the gym. I get the sense they really don’t care as much about the facilities as they do on profit. I just switched gyms after being at OAC for more than 6 years and am much happier.

  21. I just checked – OAC sold more than 540 month-long gym packages through the Groupon events in September and January, which probably explains at least some of the crush of humanity in that place.

  22. What about the one parking garage with the pillars that look like they’re about to buckle from so many people hitting them. Always a great sight.

  24. 25 meter pool would be great if you lived in Canada where they swim meters. The US swims and trains in 25 yard pools. Hopefully this is just a reporting error. Otherwise they’ll have a 2nd pool no actual swimmer will want to use.

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