Every Philadelphia parent knows the juggle. One of you has a meeting, and the other has a deadline. The kids need somewhere to be, and you need an hour to yourself. Somewhere in all that scheduling, you’re also hoping to make a few friends and find community.

Modern family life runs on a lot of moving parts. What many city parents want is one place where those parts come together. At Fitler Club in Center City, families from across Philadelphia and the suburbs have found it. Parents can work out, take a meeting, or grab dinner while kids play, learn, and make friends of their own. Staff greet children by name. Friday movie nights for the kids double as date nights for the parents. For many members, it has become a true home base in the city.

Where Families Find Their People

“Sometimes parents become friends because their kids met here, and sometimes kids become friends because their parents met here,” said Nick Cinquino, Fitler Club’s VP of Strategic Initiatives.

Member families come from all over the region, and their kids attend all kinds of schools. At the club, kids meet kids they’d never otherwise know. Parents at Fitler Club sit side by side in the playroom or in a cooking class and realize they have a lot in common. Soon they’re meeting for brunch or cheering at the same Little League game.

Cinquino has lived this himself. His son, Luca, was a baby when the club opened in late 2019 and has essentially grown up alongside it. Over the years, the family befriended members whose kids attended schools around the city and suburbs. In fact, those friendships led the family to a school they love, where Luca, now 8, is a student.

The staff are part of that circle, too. Many have worked at the club for years. They know members’ birthdays and ask how the dance recital went. Brittany Delgado, the creator behind Kid Friendly Philly, says her daughter, Lily, has grown up knowing those faces. “She doesn’t see Fitler as a place her parents belong to and she tags along,” Delgado said. “She feels like it belongs to her, too.”

The club also designs its family events calendar to reflect the city’s diversity. Alongside brunch with Santa, members celebrate Diwali and make dumplings for Lunar New Year. When the club needs more expertise, it partners with community leaders to ensure they host an event that gets the representation right.

A Typical Week, Made Easier

Picture a family of four with a preschooler and a grade-schooler. On a weekday morning, the little one joins a music class in the Fitler Club playroom. A parent can stay and join in, or squeeze in a workout. After school pickup, the family might grab an early dinner before soccer practice. Some evenings, the club is simply where everyone meets up before heading home.

Weekends move at an easier pace. Families might start the morning at the pool with kids’ swim lessons, Baby Bubbles, a playful introduction to the water for infants and toddlers, or FC Swim Team for older children. Then it’s off to Saturday family brunch, where kids eat free. Afterward, there’s often a movie matinee or a science or art class. Many families spend the whole morning enjoying the club together.

Fitler’s Friday movie nights are among the club’s most popular family events. Kids get a catered dinner and a chaperoned movie in the club’s screening room. Parents get time for dinner, watching a game, meeting friends, or having a date night elsewhere in the club.

Delgado and her husband now have a monthly date night they look forward to. “Lily LOVES it, so there’s no guilt about leaving her because she’s genuinely excited for her night too,” she said.

The pool has been just as important for her family. Lily learned to swim through lessons at the club, a big deal for a city family without a backyard pool.

A Playroom Built for Little Ones

The club’s 1,000-square-foot playroom sits just off the gym floor. It’s designed for children ages 6 and under, with a reading nook and an arts and crafts corner. There are no screens, and calm music plays in the background. Kids leave relaxed instead of wound up.

Two years ago, the club partnered with Brewerytown’s Kith & Kin to redesign the space, from the layout to the toys. Kith & Kin now leads three weekly classes there: Roots & Tunes for music, Little Caterpillars for movement, and Mini Makers for arts and crafts.

Fitler Club’s own vetted staff, many with backgrounds in teaching and childcare, run the playroom at all times. After a formal check-in, parents have up to two hours to themselves, as long as they stay in the building. They might take a fitness class, read on the terrace, or catch up on email. The goal, Cinquino says, is that parents can be fully present when they pick their kids back up.

Family Events & Programming From Toddlers to Teens

At Fitler Club, family events appeal to every generation. Kids line up to visit Santa at brunch and meet storybook princesses. At the Mother’s Day celebration, families make flower arrangements for moms and grandmothers. These gatherings highlight a weekend, but they also bring families together. Week after week, familiar faces turn into friends.

The club’s programming for kids evolves as they grow. Science workshops, art classes and holiday celebrations aim to be both fun and educational. A talk about dogs can hold a room full of young listeners spellbound. Partnerships with sports teams or theater companies bring big experiences to the club, and sometimes take families offsite to experience something new

This fall, the club is pairing Ensemble Arts’ Harry Potter orchestra performance with a themed Halloween party. Kids will also plant succulents in an herbology-inspired workshop. Families have skated on the Flyers’ ice after a game and attended a Sixers camp at the team’s Camden practice facility. The Philadelphia Union has hosted a youth soccer development camp, too.

When it comes to teen programming, member feedback helps shape what the club offers. The club is considering one member’s suggestion for a teen cooking 101 class that would cover basics like knife skills and kitchen safety. Teens would also learn easy staples like scrambled eggs and pancakes. Cinquino says that the fitness team does a great job with teen and tween gym classes. “It’s a great way to create community for them that feels natural and gives them a really nice shared experience,” he said.

Teens can also gather for teen movie nights, or attend college-prep workshops. Cinquino admits it’s a tough age to reach, but the club is committed to it.

A Club That Gives Back to Its City

The club’s nonprofit arm, the Fitler Foundation, supports Philadelphia nonprofit leaders tackling the city’s biggest challenges. Its Impact Residency gives a cohort of 10 leaders an 18-month club membership. The cohort gets meeting space, hotel nights, and discounted event rates, so they can host meetings and donors who could open doors for them. They can also take a breather and enjoy the club’s amenities and connect with its community members. 

Past residents include Garry Mills, whose nonprofit uses basketball to steer young people away from gun violence and toward mentors and opportunity. Another is Tess Hart of Triple Bottom Brewing, a fair-chance employer that hires people who have faced homelessness or incarceration. The club hosted her employees for panels on careers in hospitality. The first cohort wrapped up in September, and a new one begins early next year.

Last spring, the foundation hosted its first Fitler Forum, an all-day summit that was open to the public. More than 150 people attended panels on fundraising, building stronger boards and more. The forum connected nonprofit leaders with the larger institutions that might support their work, like Pew Charitable Trust or the Philadelphia Foundation. The club hopes to make it an annual event.

Families can get involved in volunteer opportunities through the club, too. Members have joined neighborhood cleanups and Earth Day cleanups along the Schuylkill River. 

A Home Base in the City, Even From the Suburbs

For all its family perks, Fitler Club is at its core a place for adults to work, recharge, and connect. Members enjoy luxury fitness and wellness, coworking space and private offices, and award-winning dining and bars. They can put up out-of-town guests at the boutique hotel and meet professionals from every industry. A year-round calendar of member events offer networking and social opportunities. Here, parents don’t have to choose between a great club for themselves and a great experience for their family.

While the majority of its members reside in the city, about 30% of Fitler Club members live outside Philadelphia, in places like Lower Merion, Delaware County and Cherry Hill. Many are former city dwellers who still feel deeply tied to Philly. They want their kids to know the city as more than traffic on the way to a Phillies game.

The club gives them a place to land. Parents can work, exercise, meet a friend for lunch and bring the kids for dinner. They can even stay overnight. Over time, their children build their own relationship with the city.

For Cinquino, that’s the heart of it. “Fitler Club is a home base for modern family life in Philly,” he says. “Parents can stay connected with themselves, each other and the city while their children build connections of their own.”

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Photos courtesy of Fitler Club and Kid Friendly Philly, as seen in the Women of Influence Guide.
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