Charleston fitness concept Hylo takes over former Catawba Brewing site for first Charlotte location
This new-to-market fitness concept will transform the former Catawba Brewing site in Charlotte's Belmont neighborhood.
Charleston-based Hylo Fitness is targeting a fall opening for its 7,397-square-foot fitness facility at The Sugar Mill. That’s at 933 Louise Ave.
Father-daughter team Jay and Della Caruso are behind the Charlotte location — the first in the market for the concept. The project is in the permitting phase.
A targeted pre-sale will launch in June. The goal is to have between 400 and 500 unlimited memberships by the time it opens this fall — and to double that in the first year of operation, Jay Caruso says.
“We think the appetite for fitness in Charlotte is off the charts,” he says.
They expect to invest between $500,000 and $1 million into the high-end, boutique fitness studio. It offers both strength training and yoga, barre and Pilates-inspired classes via one membership.
The duo has the first right of refusal to bring a second location to the market.
Della Caruso had a membership for the Knoxville, Tennessee, location while in college, but then she moved back home to Charlotte. She tried a variety of fitness classes, but nothing felt like the right fit. She pitched the idea of opening Hylo to her dad. This presented an opportunity for them to work together on something they were passionate about: fitness.
“We agreed that this would be a great business concept that we could really build on together,” Jay Caruso says.
Della Caruso brings her background in business, while he draws from his career in finance.
“Putting that together just seemed like a very solid interaction and partnership,” he says.
They reached out to Hylo about bringing the concept to Charlotte. What they learned solidified their interest in the brand, from its immersive culture, high level of training and appeal to a broad audience.
Charlotte demographics, particularly in the Belmont and South End neighborhoods, fit the brand, which caters to young professionals who value health and fitness, Della Caruso says. The studio’s aesthetics and little touches such as its cold lavender towels after a workout set it apart.
Expect the design to incorporate natural wood elements, with white and black accents. Branden Piks with Cradle Design Studio has signed on to the project. Swaer Group is the general contractor.
“We are really going for the aesthetics of trying to make this feel like a Ritz Carlton-level experience, so to speak,” says Jay Caruso.
Della Caruso says she hated working out until she found Hylo. It made it fun and played a role in her own weight-loss journey a couple of years ago.
“It’s the modality of having two studios under one membership. I can get my strength training in, along with yoga, barre and Pilates. It’s an all-inclusive workout with just the price of one membership,” she says.
The concept melds the best of fitness, bringing high-intensity interval training, Pilates and yoga under one roof with two studios that set the tone for workouts.
The HY Room is home to HIIT workouts, incorporating stations — floor, bike, bench and rower — to transform bodies. Classes include 45-minute sessions of Sculpt, Shred, and Power, which dial in on endurance, strength, and focus, respectively. The environment calls for focus with a dark and low-lit setting, with red light.
The LO Room is designed to be immersive, pushing participants to focus with intentional movement. There’s the full-body, barre-inspired Pulse class with the Core offering drawing from Pilates and Flo pulling from vinyasa. Expect a dark room that is heated to 90 degrees, with deep blues and candlelight.
Hylo is about creating a village within the gym, with friendships and bonds created. The gym has always been in his DNA, Jay Caruso adds.
“It’s just such an immersive experience,” he says. “I think of it as really an outlet for so many different things in your life."
Thompson Brock with Thrift Commercial Real Estate Services represented Hylo in the deal. Davis Hahn with Ascent Real Estate Partners repped the landlord.
Charlotte-based Cedar Square and Point Blank Ventures purchased the property for $11 million in June 2024. The 63,000-square-foot adaptive-reuse project was formerly a Kellogg’s bakery facility, built in 1945. Catawba Brewing’s 10,000-square-foot space at that development has been vacant since its taproom shuttered in August 2023.