Escala GYM

This is a private gym for residents and their guests. There is state of the art cardio and lifting equipment. There is a sauna and hot tub. There is a training pool. This is a perfect place to sweat. Great magazines to read, tv to watch in every cardio running machine, and there beauty supplies in the bathroom. The lockers are day use. There is also a multipurpose room for your personnel training needs. Break a sweat in luxury!

The gym at Escala is a private facility, so the why it merits a Unilocal review, especially a negative one, is beyond me. However, given that I live here and use the gym a lot, I can’t let the inaccuracies and unfair criticism go unchallenged.
Escala’s gym is easily one of the best private workout facilities of any condo development downtown. It would be nice if there was a pool, but these are rare, expensive to maintain, and often underutilized. The two ‘swim-​in-​place’ pools plus the jacuzzi are an adequate compromise. The truth is though that most private gyms don’t cater to swimmers, and in every other area this amenity shines. There is a terrific selection of equipment that is all state-​of-​the-​art and well maintained including circuit machines, recumbent and upright bikes, elliptical and free motion climbers, and treadmills. You’ll find a nice selection of free weights and kettles, yoga mats and foam rollers, bands and balance balls, and even a punching bag. There is also a separate area for stretching and free range exercise as well as a TV and DVD for people who have workout videos. The locker rooms offer showers, sauna, stream rooms, and yes, lockers.
I find comparisons to Olive 8’s gym to be misplaced since that facility is run by the Hyatt Hotel. Residents share that amenity with the hotel’s guests and pay extra to use the pool. Escala residents, on the other hand, have lower overall dues and and are spared the operating expenses of a swimming pool. A disappointment perhaps for people who really want a pool, but a much smarter financial decision for the home owners. And frankly, with the money you save you can afford a membership at a club with a pool (if it’s really that important).
The bottom line, Escala’s gym is a great facility and a smartly designed amenity that stacks well against any private, residential gym in the city. It’s accessible, spacious, open 24 hours, and has an excellent selection of well maintained equipment. Ignore the critics, they really seem to have an axe to grind.

It’s sort of odd that the other reviewer here notes the bad points of this amenity, yet gives is a ⁵⁄₅. He’s an owner and has a vested interest in making Escala seem better than it is and I’d be leery of the false impression.
The gym does have new equipment and is on the amenity floor for the building. That said, comparing it to Olive 8 is silly. It’s a luxury building with, wait for it, no pool. They have high HOA dues and no pool. There’s some of those lap bathtubs which is great if you’re a competitive swimmer but if you want to do water aerobics or go for a gentle swim, you’re out of luck.
The gym was put on the lowest floor possible. Given that everyone uses it, they could have put it higher to give it a great view, but that would have cost the developer money, so they didn’t bother.
The gym lacks any real heavy weights or things like kettles for dynamic exercises. You also have to look at the amenities of the whole building. The developer greedily tried to do create a club inside of the building from which residents would be excluded. The economy turned south and they had to bail on their poorly conceived plan.
What you’re left with is a mess that residents pay for. There’s a massive dining hall that you pay for and nobody uses. It could have added so much more amenities to the building, but the developers didn’t want to spend the money to really fix their plan.
Incidentally, what the other review here fails to mention is that Olive 8 has a 65 foot lap pool and a big steam room. Escala has nothing like it and for the money you pay, you don’t get great amenities.

Well it is open 24 HRS and it is filled with new equipment, Hot tub, infinity pool, and sauna. And it is free if you live at Escala which sounds like a stupid statement but, after going to Olive 8 and being told you have to pay monthly to use there gym I will take this instead. I love the view of Lola and the people walking the streets. I love that it is usually fairly empty and that it has plenty of sanitizing supplies. It also has great private locker room with keys per locker for free now.
The only minuses are that some residents don’t clean up after themselves and some messes end up not being cleaned for awhile.