Fitness SF, a popular San Francisco gym chain, will open its ninth location on the edge of Russian Hill after buying the long-vacant Lombardi Sports building at Polk and Jackson streets.
The building had been an eyesore for years, both for residents and businesses, and attracted drug users to the area, observers said.
Early plans for the two-floor gym feature expanded facilities for free weights and strength equipment, plus a recovery area with massage chairs and cryotherapy lounges, according to Fitness SF President Zsolt Jackovics. The locker rooms will have an infrared sauna and red light therapy. The gym will have two workout studios: Studio Escape will offer yoga and Pilates classes, while Studio Energy will offer Zumba, Bodypump, and Bootcamp.
There will be 60 parking spaces for cars and secured parking for bikes and scooters, with pumps, repair supplies, and charging. The plans also include roughly 2,000 square feet of co-working space and a dog lounge. Unlike Fitness SF’s SoMa location, there will be no cafe since there are several restaurants on Polk Street, Jackovics said.
The fitness chain signed a deal to buy the building in September and expects to close by June or July, according to Jackovics. He declined to share the sale price but said previous owner Rob Isackson wanted around $25 million.
Jackovics expects the new location at 1600 Jackson St. to open in spring 2026.
“This is a great opportunity,” Jackovics said Tuesday. “Someone can live by Cow Hollow and come here, and if they work downtown they can go to our Embaradero Center location.”
The announcement comes after a frustrating decade of attempts to revitalize the former sports store, which closed in 2014. A developer backed out of plans for 62 new apartments, the city shot down plans for a Whole Foods, and locals punted on a new Target. Mollie Stone’s Markets signed a lease, but the deal collapsed during the pandemic.
The location is ideal for a gym because while Fitness SF’s downtown locations are faltering post-pandemic, its neighborhood locations, such as in the Castro, are seeing high demand, according to Jackovics, and the Polk Street location adds a gym to the city’s northern side.
“It rounds our locations out,” he said.
Isackson, the previous owner, told The Standard in March that he and co-owner Scott Kepner believed a fitness center or grocery store would be ideal for the space.
“We value the property more as commercial long term,” Isackson said. “It would be a fabulous location for a full-service gym. It’s also a great grocery store location.”
Fitness SF has other locations in the Castro and Fillmore neighborhoods, as well as Marin and Oakland.