So, So, So Much Soul Coming to the Bay Area in 2017

Image via SoulCycle

It's hard to believe that the Bay Area was Soul-less only four years ago. There were no tapbacks, no sexy corners, and no indoor cycling-obsessed "warriors" riding to the rhythm of the beat. That all changed in June 2013, when SoulCycle opened its first NorCal location at the Marin Country Mart.

In November 2013, the brand expanded to Union Street in San Francisco and the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. Three Soul outposts within a 75-mile radius in one year is a helluva lotta work, and a feat that the company hasn't attempted again in the Bay Area...until now.

While San Francisco-proper may be set for the moment, there are three new studios coming to NorCal in 2017, which will bring the Bay Area up to nine locations. The first, in Los Gatos, is slated to open in March at 212 North Santa Cruz Avenue. A second expansion, at 2 East 3rd Avenue in San Mateo, is scheduled to follow in May. Details on the third, in Berkeley, are a little hazier.

Soul's PR team confirmed the addresses and general schedule details for the peninsula spots, but they remained silent on Berkeley. The SoulCycle website, however, advertises Berkeley as one of its 2017 expansions, and Jamestown LP—the management company that runs the Fourth Street Berkeley shopping district, announced in a press release last week that SoulCycle is an incoming tenant to its expansion project. 

Though Jamestown didn't indicate when Soul might be joining its Berkeley neighbors, the 22,500 square foot addition to the development is set to debut in April. Once you factor in time for construction, my guess is the new East Bay studio will open this fall.

If you've been commuting early or staying late to get your indoor cycling fix, reinforcements are on their way. With a couple more years like this, every Bay Area town could finally have a Soul