The former Rite Aid at Marysville Town Center now has a black and red exterior. In the same shopping center near Fourth Street and State Avenue, the old Big Lots space is also being rebuilt from the inside. From the parking lot, both buildings look like retail turnover. One store left, and another is getting ready to move in.
The tenants coming in are a different kind of business, though. Neither space will go back to selling goods off shelves. The old Rite Aid will be a gym with child care and a coffee bar. The old Big Lots will be a trampoline park with go-karts and party rooms, and a swim school is planned for the same former Big Lots space. The city's permit for that building formally reclassifies it from a store to a place people come to spend time.
The Black and Red Building Has a Name and a New Date
The Fitness Compound is moving into the former Rite Aid. The Herald reported in August that the space is 22,484 square feet, twice the size of the company's Bothell location, which opened in 2024. The extra space goes to features that keep people in the building longer than a quick workout. Those include a Kids Club, a dedicated room for group classes, a coffee bar, 1,400 square feet of turf, a red-light sauna and private showers.
The Herald gave a mid-November 2026 opening. The company's own Marysville page, updated November 3, now says the gym is "scheduled to open in January 2027," and early-bird registration is open.
The membership is built around families. According to the company's page, child care in the Kids Club is included for a member's first child, along with two group classes a month, unlimited tanning and a recovery room with massage chairs and compression sleeves. All of the equipment comes from Panatta, an Italian manufacturer. Adrienne Blythe-Clark, the company's assistant regional director, told the Herald that the machines are "engineered so the resistance follows the natural arc of the movement."
Marysville is the second of three planned locations. The Herald reported that a Bellevue gym is planned after this one.
The Old Big Lots, Reclassified on Paper
The second change is bigger and can be followed in public records. Angela Gemmer, Marysville's interim community development director, told the Herald that Urban Air Adventure Park, an indoor trampoline park, will move into the former Big Lots storefront. According to planning documents, the 44,482-square-foot space will have go-karts, a café and party rooms.
The city's tenant improvement permit, B25-0408, describes the project as "a change of use from Retail/Mercantile to Amusement and Entertainment (Indoor)." The work is interior only. The building's shell stays the same, and the inside will hold trampolines and other children's attractions, a small café and kitchen, and party rooms.
The permit record also shows how long a conversion like this takes:
| Date | Step on permit B25-0408 |
|---|---|
| July 8, 2025 | Application filed |
| May 29, 2026 | Permit issued |
| June 30, 2026 | Water Wings Swim School tenant area added |
| October 28, 2026 | Post-issuance revision approved |
| May 29, 2027 | Permit expiration date |
Almost eleven months passed between the application and the issued permit. A month after it was issued, a second business was added to the same project. The revised plans were approved at the end of October 2026. Urban Air lists the location on its Marysville page under Mall Way.
A Swim School in the Same Former Big Lots
The tenant added in June is Water Wings Swim School. The city received a proposal for an 8,990-square-foot Water Wings location, the Herald reported. The company's locations page lists Marysville as "Coming Soon" at 205 Marysville Mall Rd.
Water Wings is a year-round swim school and part of Unleashed Brands, a youth enrichment company. A September 10, 2026 company release celebrated the brand's first franchised school, in Cypress, Texas. The franchisees there also run Urban Air Adventure Park locations. The same release listed Marysville, Washington, among the schools expected to open by the end of 2026.
The swim school also has its own permit file. A separate plumbing permit, P26-0049, was filed on November 2, 2026, for plumbing work in the former Big Lots space. Its status in the city record is plan review fee due.
What the Three Tenants Have in Common
Here is how the two former stores compare with what is replacing them:
| Former tenant | New use | Size | Stated timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rite Aid | The Fitness Compound, a gym with Kids Club and coffee bar | 22,484 sq ft | January 2027, per the company |
| Big Lots | Urban Air Adventure Park, with trampolines, go-karts, a café and party rooms | 44,482 sq ft | Permit issued May 2026, revision approved October 2026 |
| Big Lots | Water Wings Swim School | 8,990 sq ft proposed | Company expected an opening by the end of 2026 |
All three businesses are built around visits that last an hour or more. Each has something for children, whether a Kids Club, a party room or a swim lesson. Both former Big Lots tenants belong to the same family of brands, and that company also has a franchisee that runs both concepts. A gym membership that includes child care, a trampoline park with party rooms and a weekly swim lesson all bring people back on a schedule.
The rest of Marysville Town Center still runs as a shopping center. The Herald lists Staples, Burlington and JCPenney among the current tenants. Once the conversions are done, the same parking lot will serve those stores, a gym, a trampoline park and a swim school.
The New Exit That Brings People In
The gym's page describes the location as "just off the brand new WA-529 exit." That exit opened about a year ago. WSDOT opened the new northbound I-5 off-ramp to SR 529 early on October 3, 2025, and the southbound on-ramp and SR 529 roundabout were scheduled to open later that day.
The WSDOT project page lists the finished work. It includes an extended northbound I-5 HOV lane, a third general-purpose lane, the new I-5 and SR 529 ramps, the roundabout, and an accessible route under the northbound off-ramp. The page notes that minor work remains, with possible overnight lane reductions between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.
The gym already uses the new exit in how it describes its location, and the same ramps lead to the trampoline park and swim school in the former Big Lots.
If you live near Fourth and State and are thinking about what these changes mean for your own plans, I'm happy to talk them through without any pressure. I keep track of how projects like the Town Center conversions change daily life around a home, from which roads people use to how full the parking lots get. When you're ready, Andrew Macgillivray is glad to help. Let's Connect.
