West Loop – The New York-born luxury bath and spa are scheduled to open in West Loop next year.
Owners will turn the parking lot at 1010 W. Madison St. into a 40,000-square-foot spa oasis called bathhouses with coeducational saunas, hot pools, cold tubs, steam rooms and boutique spas including massages and scrubs. I’m planning to do that. The developer told a community meeting Tuesday night that construction of the project would begin in March.
Chicago baths include two outdoor rooftop pools and three indoor pools, mixed with heated, brine and salt water, according to the architect’s newspaper. A daily pass at the Bathhouse’s Flatiron location in New York City is between $40 and $99, with full body massages starting at $195. Unlimited weekday membership at the location costs $320 a month.
Based in Fulton Street Co., design company Gensler and New York, Bathhouse is redeveloping its site. The bathhouse is away from Fulton Street’s original plans, which were turned to Knicks for construction costs, Alex Nagem, the developer’s CEO, told Sun Times in 2023.
Bathhouse signed a 25-year unbreakable lease on Fulton Street. This was done with custom builds to bring the bathhouse into the area, he said at an ALD promoted meeting on Tuesday. Bill Conway (No. 34).
The project does not require further city council approval. He has also already received construction permits, including pile driving permits, Conway told the Block Club. Conway asked Nagem to attend a pre-construction community meeting to address concerns from his neighbors.
Piled driving on the site will begin between March 1st and 5th and will last for 12 to 15 days, Najem said at the meeting.
Pilling is a construction method in which heavy steel or concrete beams are hammered deep into the ground to create a stable foundation for a building. According to the Encyclopedia of Sustainable Technology, piling driving is often loud and creates vibrations that can damage nearby buildings.
Due to the quality of the soil, the project requires pile operation, Najem said. The company is taking additional precautions to monitor the impact of piling driving on nearby streets, buildings and sidewalks, he said.
Before Pile Driving begins, independent third-party companies and project general contractor DCS Midwest will conduct a survey to document existing terms of the adjacent property. These assessments will serve as a baseline to identify potential damage caused by construction, Nagem said.
During the three-week pile driving phase, digital seismic maps installed in nearby buildings track vibrations. The data is downloaded daily and a summary report is generated when the work is complete. The monitoring process includes a one-week baseline period when construction begins, he said.
After the foundation work is completed, a second assessment is carried out and results are compared to pre-construction surveys to determine whether nearby buildings maintain visible structural damage. He said allegations of damage to the building would be reviewed in court.
“Our goal is to get this done as quickly as possible,” Najem said.
Morgan and Madison Streets are open during the driving stage of the pile, but one lane on each street will be closed during the steel erection stage, which lasts from four to six weeks, Nagem said.
Construction is expected to last for 12 months. The exterior of the building will be surrounded by August and the interior work must be concluded by September.
The bathhouse is scheduled to open in spring 2026.
The company also operates locations in Brooklyn and Flatiron, New York City. This will be the first location outside of New York.
Aire Aincent Baths is a similar spa with a pool, steam room and massage, which opened in 2017 at River West.
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