Sensa Sells Founding Memberships at $495 to $995 a Month for a Wynwood Bathhouse a Block From Grotto Baths
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Sensa claims eight pools and six saunas on a two-hour circuit capped at 40 people. It says it opens this fall; city records show it hasn’t received its certificate of occupancy yet.
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Sensa, a thermal bathhouse with a medical spa and a blow-dry bar upstairs, is preparing to open at 2830 NW 5th Avenue in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, about 600 feet from Grotto Baths, and began selling founding memberships on October 15 at $495 to $995 a month. Sensa says it opens this fall. Its policy pages, last updated in June, still say summer 2026.
As of November 4, City of Miami permit records showed no certificate of occupancy for the building. The city issued a temporary electrical permit “for testing” on October 13. Grotto Baths, on NW 28th Street, says it is on schedule to open at the end of November.
Sensa at a glance
- Where Wynwood, Miami, at 2830 NW 5th Avenue
- Size billed as nearly 20,000 square feet when Sensa announced it in September; the city remodel permit covers 14,620, and county records list 13,930 square feet of heated area
- Circuit two hours, up to 40 people per session, by reservation only
- Heat and cold, by Sensa’s count eight pools, six saunas, a rain room, an ice cave and cold plunges
- Founding memberships $495, $795 or $995 a month (regularly $595, $895 and $1,195), five-month minimum, 10% off for paying a year up front
- Day passes no price published yet
- Hours daily from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sensa says
- Founder Martin Hogue, a Chicago restaurant and real-estate operator
Six saunas, but only two are named
Sensa’s bathhouse page lists a cedar sauna, an infrared sauna with red light therapy and a steam room, plus a cold plunge, an ice room and an ice cave. The waters include a float pool with Dead Sea salinity under a suspended tree, a thermal pool and a grotto plunge that leads to an outdoor pool. A September announcement described two hot hydrotherapy pools and two cold plunges “maintained at different temperatures,” UV and ozone sanitation, and a flooded “Storm Room” with rainfall, lightning and thunder effects.
Sensa hasn’t said which heaters it uses, how hot the saunas run or what the other four saunas are. Its programming so far is “Wellness Hours featuring guided sauna experiences.” There’s no mention of aufguss.
Members first, no day-pass price yet
Founding prices are locked for 24 months, and the five-month minimum commits a member to $2,475 to $4,975. Members can hold two upcoming reservations at a time, with no walk-ins and no standing weekly slots, according to Sensa’s membership terms. The tiers differ in guest passes, monthly massages and IV sessions from the medical spa. Paying 12 months up front takes 10% off, and new members have three business days to cancel, the terms say. Sensa’s cancellation policy refers to “fixed-price” bathhouse bookings, but it hasn’t published a price for a single visit.
Miami’s other thermal options are priced very differently. Grotto Baths sells memberships from $225 a month for three visits to $400 for unlimited visits. The Russian & Turkish Baths on Miami Beach charges $65 for a single admission. The Standard Spa in Miami Beach charges $450 a month plus a $2,400 introduction fee, and a day pass at the Carillon resort’s thermal circuit starts at $169 through ResortPass. Outside Florida, Sauna Jungle in Arlington, Virginia, priced its founding unlimited membership at $130 a month.
A Chicago operator and a 10-year lease
Hogue started as a waiter in 1997, ran restaurants and nightlife venues in Chicago and rehabilitated apartment buildings there, he wrote in a September column describing Sensa as “a four year journey.”
Sensa signed a 10-year lease for the building, The Real Deal reported. The owners paid $10.3 million for the property in March 2022, according to county records. Sensa hasn’t disclosed its investment.
Permits trace the fit-out
The city issued the main remodel permit on July 9 after 261 days of plan review, and a pool permit on September 21. The main permit describes the work as an outpatient clinic and medical spa, with a declared value of $485,000, and names Gary Construction of Hollywood, Florida, as general contractor. A certificate of occupancy is the last step before Sensa can open its doors.
