Axios San Diego
October 16, 2026
1 big thing: 24 Hour Fitness glow up
This is not your dad's 24 Hour Fitness.
The big picture: The gym in the Mission Valley mall has gone through a major expansion and upgrade in hopes of reaching fitness fanatics who want more than treadmills and weights.
State of play: The biggest changes include:
🏋️ More space. The club added about 8,000 square feet, bringing it to 30,000 square feet.
🧖 New recovery amenities. Members can use red-light saunas, massage chairs and leg-recovery boots after their workouts.
🥶 Chill without a plunge. New "polar beds," which are like wraparound cooling chairs, let members stay dressed but still feel like they're submerged in 48 degrees.
Between the lines: It's all because of the new focus on health and longevity, not just burning calories and losing weight, 24 Hour Fitness cofounder Mark Mastrov told Axios.
- And those people also want a community space, which a gym provides, he said.
- "In the last two years the gym industry's exploded," he said. "More people are exercising now than ever in history."
Zoom out: Carlsbad-based 24 Hour Fitness is bringing these makeovers to 100 other clubs nationwide, including others in the region, he said.
By the numbers: Local gyms are stronger than ever this year, Carter Russ, CEO of retail sales tracking firm CenterCheck, told Axios. Spending at gyms grew 27% in 2024 and 16% in 2025, he said.
- Lower-cost gyms outperformed boutique studios.
- For example, revenue tripled at EoS Fitness on Sports Arena Boulevard and rose 65% at Chuze on Camino del Rio South, but Orangetheory in Hazard Center and Point Loma fell by more than 30% and Club Pilates fell by 27%.
Younger people are a growing share of gym rats, Russ said. San Diego gymgoers ages 18 to 24 increased almost 11% this year, he said.
Context: The gym fix-up coincides with other upgrades coming to the Mission Valley mall, which now goes by The Valley.
- That includes new stores, a mall face-lift and a new Dick's House of Sport, which combines sporting goods sales with a rock climbing wall, golf bay and running area.
2. 🗳️ Convoy's council race
Incumbent Councilmember Kent Lee is facing a challenge from Mark Powell in District 6.
The big picture: Lee, a Democrat, and Powell, a Republican, offer sharply different approaches to housing, city spending and neighborhood services.
Axios: What is the biggest issue facing District 6?
Lee: Affordability, as families are seeing rising costs everywhere from housing to groceries to transportation — especially the price of gas.
- Housing is especially important because District 6 is one of San Diego's largest employment centers, yet many people who work here commute an hour or more because they can't afford to live nearby.
Powell: City Hall has lost sight of the basics. District 6 residents pay more in taxes and fees every year, yet services keep getting worse.
- In 2016, a streetlight repair took 16 days; today it takes 10 to 16 months. A decade ago, 6% of our streets were rated poor or failing; today it's over 34%. Priority-one police response times have climbed from 12 to 15 minutes to more than 38, nearly triple the 14-minute goal.
Axios: What would you do about housing and affordability?
Lee: We need to make it easier and faster to build housing at every income level. We've worked to streamline permitting, update community plans, and establish an affordable housing preservation fund.
Powell: I'd modernize plan review, including AI tools that catch problems before submission, and explore Phoenix's model of letting certified private engineers self-certify projects.
3. The Current: 📝 School testing mixed
4. 👻 Halloween houses to check out
5. 🧙 Halloween at Legoland
Axios San Diego
