New Planet Fitness opens in Sun Life Centre as office complex beefs up offerings for tenants

Marissa Galko

January 13, 2025

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Planet Fitness has opened a new location in the Sun Life Centre as the downtown mixed-use complex introduces more amenities in an effort to generate additional foot traffic and give tenants more bang for their buck. The U.S.-based fitness chain’s newest gym in Ottawa takes over bottom-floor space formerly occupied by the YMCA in the building at 99 Bank St. The company cited the Sun Life Centre’s proximity to the Parliament LRT station, which is connected to the building, and nearby federal government offices as reasons for choosing the site. The new Planet Fitness will be open and staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Chrissy Hubbs, regional vice-president at Planet Fitness franchise Taymax Group, says the company, which already operates two locations in Nepean and Orléans, is excited to expand into the city's central core. “We knew it was a great market and opportunity to come into downtown Ottawa,” Hubbs said. As the company continues to expand across Canada, Hubbs said it is particularly interested in opening locations in downtown hubs. “It’s just exciting to be a part of a community, especially a downtown community that’s vibrant and diverse,” she said. Hubbs said the gym’s location in the heart of downtown Ottawa makes it more convenient for members who work in the Sun Life complex and other nearby office buildings to come in during the week and stick to their fitness goals. “When we work with downtown locations where there’s lots of buildings, we have a lot more opportunities to work with some local businesses as well,” she said. “(Members) come in, they do their workout, they go to work … and potentially on weekends, they get a workout at a club closer to home as well.” The 22,500-square-foot facility is the latest amenity to be added to the Sun Life Centre, which is comprised of two towers at 99 Bank and 50 O’Connor streets and is one of Ottawa’s largest office complexes at more than a million square feet.

Extensive renovations

The property, which is managed by Miami-based BentallGreenOak, underwent an extensive renovation that was completed in 2018. That makeover included the addition of a new “food hall” called Queen St. Fare that replaced the former Hy’s Steakhouse & Cocktail Bar. The 9,000-square-foot space features several restaurants as well as a bar and a stage for live performances. Hubbs said the presence of retail offerings such as Queen St. Fare influenced the company’s decision to move to the Sun Life Centre. “I come from a retail background and we always said ‘one-stop shop is the most convenient.’ The communities that we’re starting to build in (are ones where) you have everything within a few steps of where your office is,” Hubbs said. The new gym opens amid ongoing uncertainty about the future of downtown Ottawa’s office market, which is struggling to return to pre-pandemic levels of occupancy. According to the latest figures from real estate firm Colliers, the office vacancy rate in the downtown core rose to 13.1 per cent in the fourth quarter, a jump of 1.35 percentage points from the previous quarter. Experts say tenants are abandoning lower-tier properties and leasing smaller pockets of space in high-end, amenity-rich buildings such as the Sun Life Centre – one of the so-called “Big Three” downtown office complexes along with Constitution Square and the World Exchange Plaza – in a bid to make a return to the office more enticing for employees who grew accustomed to working from home during the pandemic. BentallGreenOak’s Kevin Smith, leasing manager for 99 Bank St., said the addition of Planet Fitness in the former YMCA space is a “huge win” for the building. “Planet Fitness was the last piece of the puzzle that we were missing from an amenities perspective within the building,” Smith said. He said foot traffic for the restaurants and amenities on the ground floor, such as Queen St. Fare and Olly Fresco’s, is especially high in the middle of the week when more public servants work downtown. “We’re seeing it much busier (on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) than on Monday and Friday … If it is a cold winter's day in Ottawa and you don't have to leave your building to access a multitude of different things, it's only a positive,” he said. Kevin Houlahan, a sales representative with Colliers who specializes in leasing retail space, said that as competition for tenants intensifies, it stands to reason that landlords like BentallGreenOak will try to boost their buildings’ profiles with perks such as fitness facilities. “When it comes to leasing office space, it’s a huge amenity to have within the complex,” said Houlahan. The veteran real estate executive, whose office is located on the 10th floor at 99 Bank St., points to himself as an example of an employee who is taking advantage of Planet Fitness’s move into the complex. Now a member of the gym, Houlahan said the facility also appears to be popular with university students and other people who don’t necessarily work in the Sun Life Centre. “By having services like that … I think you have the ability to increase your traffic flow in the building,” he said. “It’s been a huge addition to the building.” Hubbs said the company will keep a close eye on business at the new location and won’t hesitate to tweak its offerings to respond to customer preferences. “As we get into the unique markets like downtown, we start to learn what (members’) habits are, what the busiest hours are, perhaps if we need to get more involved in bringing more staff or trainers in,” she said. – With additional reporting from David Sali