Mark Wahlberg wants to take on the longevity-startup crowd with an affordable gym concept

Mark Wahlberg will open the first Municipal Gym in December, a 32,000-square-foot club outside Las Vegas. The actor announced the venture Thursday at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco. It will offer blood work, epigenetic testing, compression therapy, cold plunges, recovery gear, and a café serving protein muffins.

The gym is the second phase of a plan that began seven years ago with Municipal, a casual sportswear line. The brand launched during COVID, which Wahlberg admitted was not a good idea because 2020 was a poor time to enter apparel. It grew from his work as a celebrity fitness spokesperson, where brands mainly wanted him to sell T-shirts and sneakers.

Municipal targets a high-end wellness market where venture money keeps flowing. Fountain Life, co-founded by Tony Robbins, raised $18 million last year and charges $21,500 a year, according to reports. The Estate, also co-founded by Robbins, plans $35,000 memberships, while Equinox is building a waitlist for a $36,000 longevity add-on.

Wahlberg claims Municipal will match that luxury tier at a lower price. For $99, he said, members will receive three rounds of blood work and an hour with a doctor to identify predispositions. Supplements and hormone therapy will also be available, and he promised “a better price point than our competitors.”

The gyms may also serve as storefronts for Wahlberg’s other products, including a supplements brand, though he described that role as “kind of.” He said he is building a “health and wellness ecosystem” with “everything there, soup to nuts.” The clothing line remains part of the vision because customers can feel and touch products before buying.

Wahlberg declined to specify how many gyms he wants, but called the growth strategy “aggressive.” Landlords and developers who toured the Las Vegas site have offered “AAA locations at very favorable terms, with great TI,” or tenant-improvement allowances. The December opening will test whether consumers want longevity-style diagnostics without five-figure annual fees.

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