Beyond the Gym: Club Evexia Expands Its Vision in Mill Valley
A new Pilates studio, larger co-working hub, and immersive design elevate the club’s mission to build community and well-being.
Club Evexia is a luxury wellness and fitness center plus coworking lounge located on the water’s edge in Mill Valley California, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The club has wall-to-wall views of Richardson Bay and tidal marsh that is home to a wide range of birds and marine life. In 2025, Meylan Construction assisted the club in expanding its footprint to include a Pilates Reformer studio and larger coworking space.
The club was opened in 2022 by Scott K. Raymond and Warren Gendel. Their vision was to create a community space that felt luxurious, and that could be a health and wellness social center for its members.
Club Evexia is unique in the fitness community. In addition to fitness and coworking, the 21-and-older club offers member socials and education programs ranging from posture clinics to a women’s health series perimenopause and menopause.
It’s that community connection that keeps members engaged. One member told Scott she made five new friends shortly after joining the club. Another said coming here allowed her to feel less “gym shy.”
“Gyms can be intimidating. You want to get in shape, but those places can be tough,” says Scott. “We’re the opposite. The vision was there the moment we walked in — a sense of community, open and accepting. From there, it was just a matter of executing.”
Inspiration for The Expansion
Three years after opening, the club was fully attended with a waiting list to join. Two challenges had emerged as the club settled into its third year in business. Scott had learned through conversations that although the gym was quite large with an expansive 21,000-square-feet, and had many offerings, members had to go elsewhere to take Pilates classes. Additionally, due to its popularity the club’s co-working space was beginning to feel crowded.
A large space opened in an adjacent building. Scott and his business partner Warren saw it as the perfect opportunity to add new services through an expansion. The building complex, Shoreline Office Center, is a unique complex owned by Basin Street Properties. Meylan Construction was selected to build out the tenant improvements in the new space. The new co-working lounge faces the sunset and the 2500-foot peak of Mt. Tamalpais, which means “West Hill” in the language of the original inhabitants, the Coast Miwoks.
The design: Bringing nature and calm indoors
The expansion required relocating the club’s existing coworking space to a new location that did not have the wall-to-wall view of the bay of the former room, and that also required going outside, and re-entering a new building. To maintain a cohesive design between both spaces, and to find a way to make up for the lost view, Scott called on Catherine Reon, CEO and principal interior designer with CRKW Studio, Inc., and muralist Mike Pinette, who had done work in the original space.
Catherine originally brought Scott and Warren’s vision to life when the club was built in 2022. Rather than pattern the club after other gyms that looked like dark warehouses, Scott says they wanted a space that felt “more like a resort. Something you’d find at a five-star hotel in Maui.”
For the new coworking space, Catherine used the club’s original color scheme of earth tones, taupe, and deep greens to capture the surrounding beauty of the natural landscape of coastal northern California.
One of her biggest design challenges was to distract attention away from spaces’ ugly industrial ceilings. She accomplished this by choosing soothing paints, materials, and lighting to pull the eye across the room.
“You don’t get famous over an industrial ceiling that nobody notices,” Catherine says. “But for me, I have a lot of pride in it. And now it’s just a pretty backdrop to everything else.” The mural, which at points reached the ceiling with waves of clouds blends right into the industrial fixtures on the ceilings which also helps them simply disappear.
Another challenge was how to utilize an oddly shaped triangular room in the coworking space. Catherine turned it into a calm meditation space, washing the room’s ceiling and walls with a dark, warm taupe color that directed attention out the windows to views of Mount Tam beyond.
In the coworking space’s new coffee bar, Catherine paired quartz stone countertops with a neutral sea drift-colored cabinetry and a soft blue tile by Bedrosians called Marin. She is most proud of the fact that the new spaces relate to the club’s brand and create a holistic experience for members.
To pull the colors from the mural and surrounding natural environment into the space, Catherine selected original artwork by June Steckler, a northern California “painter of abstract, nature-inspired artwork”.
The mural: art that connects and calms
One of the most impressive elements in the expansion is a 700-square-foot mural that covers three walls plus the exterior walls of the original space’s outdoor lounge. It was designed and painted by Mike Pinetti, who was previously hired in 2022 to paint the club’s first mural in the multipurpose room. Mike Pinetti flew back from Spain to take on this stunning project. The mural is a winding wave through the room with rolling water, hills and clouds, and reaching two stories high in the exterior spaces.
“Scott and Warren gave me 100% creative control,” says Mike. “When I saw the space, I was super excited to have a little footprint there. I’ve been hiking the trails in Mill Valley and Muir Woods for almost a decade now, and I feel very rooted in the area.”
Mike’s goal with the coworking space was to create a meditative and calming energy. Using his signature style of pointillism, or “dot work,” each of the two recent murals took five days to complete.
“Art really does transform spaces and also how we think about things,” says Mike. “I wanted something that took the walls down and made it feel less limited. I hope it brings a sense of ease and calmness, a sense of home, and that they feel a gentle, soothing environment.”
From Vision To Reality
“Wait, the coworking space is already reopened? And now there’s a new Pilates studio? They are amazed.”
It is part of Meylan Construction’s process to check in with clients throughout a project. We work quickly, and want to ensure that our clients are getting their needs met. In preparation for writing this article, we met with Scott mid-construction to talk about his vision and how it was going. “We wanted our members to get it all here,” said Scott. The project was scheduled to take place in carefully orchestrated phases. Scott reported that the members “are continually blown away. They’ll say, ‘Wait, the coworking space is already reopened? And now there’s a new Pilates studio? They are amazed.”
Scott credits the smooth success of Club Evexia’s expansion to Meylan Construction. Meylan is a Marin County based commercial construction company headquartered in San Rafael, California. Not only did Meylan tackle the unique problems that can arise from working on a building that is actually constructed on a very large pier, the team even finished the project early.
“I’ve worked with so many contractors over the years, and most of them suck,” says Scott. “Meylan is by far the best group I’ve worked with. They know how to set expectations, bid properly, keep schedules tight, and adjust when I inevitably change my mind mid-project.”
To Paul Belger, who managed the expansion and is Meylan’s Director of Service, the Club Evexia expansion represents a cornerstone project to Meylan’s Service department. The service side of the business tackles projects that have a tight timeline, don’t require major structural work, and that need to deliver on unique and creative needs of clients.
“Challenges and building, that’s what we’re here for,” says Paul. “My vision going into any project is to collaborate and really deliver on what the client wants. It’s about building trust and making sure they feel heard and taken care of.”
Working with unique construction environments
Because the building for the new coworking space was built over water on piers, the electricians had to wait for low tide to extend wires under the floors. Another challenge was minimizing the sounds, dust, and paint fumes to avoid disrupting an upscale clientele, and the other businesses in the building. Scott and Warren wanted to be sure that their club members and club operations were not interrupted by the project. Meylan has decades of experience doing construction within structures that are actively in use. Maintaining a clean, well organized work space is a part of our process.
With any construction project, it requires the work of multiple specialists, all collaborating to make a singular vision come to life. Creating and managing the construction schedule for Evexia was done by Justin Dierkhising, who coordinated materials and subcontractor start and completion points. Managing the overall expansion and ensuring that the client was informed as the project progressed was Paul Belger.
“My job is really just to clear the way for the subcontractors and staff and give them the empowerment to do what they do best,” says Paul. “They’re coming with a problem, but they’re usually coming with solutions. They are pros at what they do, and it shows.”
About Meylan Construction
Meylan Construction is a Commercial Construction Contractor located in San Rafael, California. Meylan specializes in retail, industrial, and commercial Capital and Tenant improvements.
The Artisans
It was the collaboration of many artisans that made this transformation possible.
| All American Flooring | |
| CRKW Studio, Inc. | https://www.crkw.com/ |
| Grima Tile & Stone | https://grimatileandstone.com/ |
| Marelli Drywall | https://marellidrywall.com/ |
| Mike Testa Plumbing, Inc. | https://www.miketestaplumbing.com/ |
| North Star Glass & Windows | https://northstarglassinc.com/ |
| Redhawk Glass, Inc. | https://redhawkglass.com/ |
| Reyff Electric | https://reyffelectricinc.com/ |
| Schaffer Painting | https://schafferpainting.com/ |