THE ARISING · Markets & Strategy
Mark Wahlberg's Municipal Gym Pitches Longevity Testing at Gym Prices
Longevity testing has become a premium product costing tens of thousands of dollars a year. Actor Mark Wahlberg is betting that a gym can sell much of the same thing for far less.
According to TechCrunch, which spoke with Wahlberg at its Disrupt conference in San Francisco on Thursday, the first Municipal Gym opens in December. It is a 32,000-square-foot club outside Las Vegas. Services include blood work, epigenetic testing, compression therapy, cold plunges, recovery equipment and a café that serves protein muffins.
Wahlberg is pitching the club as an affordable alternative to longevity clubs. He gave one example of pricing: $99 buys three rounds of blood work and an hour with a doctor, who flags what a member may be predisposed to. He said supplements and hormone therapy are also available. "We have a better price point than our competitors, and we're going to get far more results," he said. The results claim is his own. The article offers no data to support it.
The price gap is the core of the strategy. According to reports cited by TechCrunch, a full Fountain Life subscription costs $21,500 a year. Fountain Life, co-founded by Tony Robbins, raised $18 million last year to expand its centers for wealthy clients. The Estate, co-founded by Robbins and hospitality executive Sam Nazarian, is still planning $35,000 memberships. Equinox is building a waitlist for a $36,000 longevity add-on that would sit on top of a standard gym membership.
For the market, the question is whether these services are a luxury or a mass-market product. Municipal is testing the second view. If members pay for diagnostics at gym-level prices, premium providers may have to justify their fees with something beyond testing. If they do not, the premium tier may hold. The article does not say how Municipal's $99 offer fits into its wider membership pricing, or how it will make money on it. Those details matter for judging the model.
Wahlberg describes the plan as a "health and wellness ecosystem" with "everything there, soup to nuts." Asked whether the gyms would act as storefronts for his other products, including a supplements brand he owns, he answered "kind of." Municipal began as a sportswear line during COVID. Wahlberg said a gym lets people "actually feel and touch the clothes" before buying.
He called the growth strategy "aggressive" but gave no target for the number of gyms. He said landlords and developers who toured the Las Vegas site offered "AAA locations at very favorable terms, with great TI," meaning tenant-improvement allowances that help pay for build-out. TechCrunch's article gives no funding, valuation or location count for Municipal.
Wahlberg's record in fitness adds context. He bought into F45 Training in 2019 at a $450 million valuation, according to TechCrunch. The company went public in 2021 and was delisted from the NYSE in 2023 after its stock collapsed. He said the main lesson was to work with people who share his approach. He also said he has always thought big-box gyms were the better model. He wants members to stay for hours, and he said he cannot understand the "join up but don't show up" model that many gyms rely on.
The article does not discuss regulation. Offering blood work, doctor visits, supplements and hormone therapy in a gym raises questions about medical oversight, but the source does not address them. What to watch next: the December Las Vegas opening, the full membership pricing, and whether Municipal announces a second location.
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