It’s January, and all over the District, people are re-committing to health and fitness after a year of COVID-19 restrictions that have kept many close at home. But what if everything you needed to maintain an active lifestyle was right where you live? Luxury apartments throughout the District offer not only fitness equipment and classes, but support for residents who want to build and maintain an active lifestyle.
Fitness amenities are in demand. In a recent rentcafe.com survey of more than 3,000 people, 47 percent of respondents said they wanted a building with a gym or fitness center; for 28 percent of them, not having one was a deal-breaker. Respondents cited three main reasons: convenience, cost, and motivation.
A Shared Lifestyle
A community that supports a healthy lifestyle is as important as the facilities, said Kaitlyn Tumminello, the property manager for Avec on H Street (901 H St. NE). An active lifestyle defines the community in and around Avec, she said.
“It’s definitely a characteristic of our traditional renter, and a defining factor of our property, but I also think it’s a defining factor of the neighborhood that we’re in as well,” she said.
The luxury residence offers an indoor-outdoor fitness experience that supports the lifestyle of residents, including a rooftop pool and a gym featuring cross fit equipment, Woodlawn treadmills and Peloton bikes. The fitness center opens onto a meditation courtyard, where residents can go to work out, stretch or just be. Downstairs, a secure storage room for up to 250 bicycles is complimentary, making it easier for tenants to take advantage of the nearby Metro Branch Trail for recreation and commuting.
Avec opened in January 2020, just before the pandemic hit. Pre-COVID, the staff offered on-site complimentary yoga and meditation classes. Those have since gone virtual, but Tumminello said that Avec staff is cultivating the different interests of residents with the goal of forming running classes and cycling groups. Eventually, the team would like to connect those interest clubs with local fitness-related businesses on H Street such as the Daily Ryder and Pacers just as they have already done with a book club at Solid State. “We want to facilitate people’s interests with what H Street provides,” she said.
One of the first tenants to open in the building’s retail space is Solidcore (931 H St. NE), which offers discounts to Avec residents, including Tumminello, who lives on-site. She attended a preview session at Solidcore prior to the pandemic. “It was so hard —such a great workout,” she said. Solidcore is just one nearby option of many for residents who want to find simple ways to support a healthy lifestyle.
Tumminello said that being active is one of the key qualities of Avec and the people who live there. “I have so many residents who just want to use the stairs, as opposed to taking the elevator,” Tumminello laughed. “They’re just to that level of detail about how in their everyday life, they want to be as active as possible.”
Supporting Residents’ Active Lifestyles
Support for an active lifestyle has become a key amenity for attracting new tenants in the District, so much so that in December, The Collective Apartments (880 New Jersey Ave. SE) hired a Senior Fitness Coordinator, Adam Murphy.
Murphy is the former women’s soccer coach at Marymount University and a former athletic facilities and event manager at George Washington University, a combination of coaching and event planning that perfectly suits him for his new role at The Collective.
“It was shocking how perfect of an opportunity this was for not only my background, but also what the community here was looking for, and I just got really lucky they gave me the opportunity,” Murphy said.
It’s a perfect fit for both Murphy and The Collective, said Ashley Weatherly, the Activities and Events Manager for the three apartment building omplex which includes the Park Chelsea, Agora and The Garrett. Each building offers an array of fitness amenities, and residents of any one can take advantage of the amenities at all three buildings. Those include a climbing wall and a Peloton room, a tennis court with a parabolic wall where one can play versus one’s self, a six-hoop indoor basketball court, infinity pools, a virtual golf simulator, an outdoor jungle gym and a rooftop fitness center, to list a few.
The amenities are only part of the picture, said Weatherby. Health and Wellness are emphasized at The Collective. In January, residents can attend a tea workshop to learn traditions of tea making and the properties of herbal teas, and the residence also offers cooking classes and health workshops. “I think health and wellness is something that’s a part of everybody’s lives, and we do our best to enrich the lives of our residents.”
Murphy will enhance the residential experience by putting together varied fitness activities and facilitating the use of all that is available. For instance, he wants to help residents utilize the available on-demand class offerings. One or two residents can go into a yoga studio and pull up classes on screen to do small group workouts. “By choosing to live here, you have all these amenities at your disposal; we want to give them the tools to take advantage of that,” he said.
In January, the Collective will launch an app-based fitness challenge, encouraging people to keep active and giving them incentive to do so through competition and a newsletter. The first one will offer cold-weather exercise tips and articles on fitness during COVID-19. As restrictions ease, Murphy plans to have group fitness classes and team sports lined up for residents.
“I always enjoyed coaching even more than I liked playing,” Murphy said, “so roles like this give me an opportunity to take that encouraging and coaching approach and use it in a different style, but I still get to create programs that enable those around me to grow through sport.”
With the amenities offered at The Collective and Avec together with the support of the team and the community, nurturing a healthy lifestyle is possible right at home.
Learn more about Avec on H Street by visiting aveconh.com. Learn more about the properties at The Collective at thecollectivedc.com
