JETSET Pilates: Plotting a Virginia Takeover, One Reformer at a Time

JETSET Pilates will open its first Virginia studio in Tysons this November, marking the reformer Pilates franchise’s entry into the state. The 16-reformer studio sits at 1640 Boro Place at The Boro, a live, work, and play district in Northern Virginia. It began presales in mid-July and, according to the company, is on track to sell hundreds of founding memberships before the doors open. Two more studios, in Midlothian and Ashburn, are planned for the coming months.

The Virginia studios are being developed by Vertex Fitness Group, founded by James Temple and Mo Khalil, who are among the most accomplished multi-unit operators in the Mathnasium franchise system and together run more than 100 Mathnasium learning centers. Their agreement with JETSET covers 25 studios across Virginia, Chicago, and the Twin Cities, and the Virginia openings are the first wave. “Virginia is home for us,” said Temple, who grew up in Suffolk and spent 17 years building a business across the state.

Each studio will be staffed by a locally hired team led by a general manager and supported by Vertex’s shared services group, with Chief Operating Officer Christy Rowe leading openings, hiring, training, and marketing in every Vertex market. The company expects the three Virginia locations to create about 60 local jobs, including general managers, studio leads, community leads, and certified instructors. Bertus Albertse, President and Chief Executive of JETSET Pilates, said the pair had already shown at Mathnasium that they “know how to scale a business the right way.”

A presale changes how a studio opens. Founding members commit before the first class, which means the operator needs a clear record of plans, payments, and renewals from day one. Gorilla Dash features a Memberships and Subscriptions tool designed to help franchise operators manage recurring plans in one place, which can matter when several studios are opening within months of each other.

The Tysons launch gives JETSET a visible foothold in one of Northern Virginia’s busiest districts and a template for the studios that follow. How quickly the founding membership base translates into steady weekly attendance will be an early signal of how the brand fares in a market that already has several established Pilates operators.