Mark Wahlberg wants to take on the long-running startup crowd with an affordable gym.

Mark Wahlberg, who once sunk money into a chain of clubs he started in New York, is now building his own, promising to get a cold snap, a blood panel and a protein shake without needing a safe deposit box.

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Mark Wahlberg has started his own companies and backed many others. But he says he's more excited about the club opening in December than anything he's done in his entire career. It also goes after a corner of the market where investment money continues to flow: high-end, diagnostic health.

Speaking to us at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco on Thursday, the actor said the first municipal gym will open in December. It's a 32,000-square-foot gym outside of Las Vegas that includes blood testing, epigenetic testing, recovery equipment, compressions, cold plunges, and a cafe that serves protein shakes. He touts it as a cost-effective alternative to long-lived clubs that charge tens of thousands of dollars a year for roughly the same thing.

It's the second part of a plan that, in some ways, was first conceived seven years ago with a casual sportswear line.

Clothing brand Municipal launched during COVID-19, which Wahlberg volunteers was "not a good idea." (In 2020, getting into apparel was a bad business, with retailers from J.Crew to Brooks Brothers going out of business.)

It was born out of what he saw as a celebrity fitness spokesperson. He had done collaborations with different brands and other companies kept approaching him to be their brand ambassador, but it seemed that all of them he said he wanted. Everyone somehow wanted to sell t-shirts and sneakers. And I wanted to somehow make more of an impact on people's lives."

By this he meant what people eat, what supplements they take, how they train and how they recover. The dress was just the beginning. "We figured, well, we're going to start in the apparel space, and then build from there." He says he only switches to "things I'm passionate about and things that are a direct extension of who I am."

As we noted in reference to Lululemon's frequent quality control challenges, even without a pandemic, clothing is a brutal business. But Wahlberg wasn't fazed, instead talking about why the club fits his vision. He thought it "could always be great for the brand" in part because it gave people a place to "actually feel and touch the clothes before they bought them." In addition, he continued, how people exercise is "another big part of people's lives."

Most of the space is concentrated on the upper level. Fountain Life, the longevity company founded by Tony Robbins, raised $18 million last year to expand its centers for wealthy clients, and the full subscription is reportedly $21,500 a year. The Estate, a company founded by Robbins and hospitality director Sam Nazarian, is still planning to charge $35,000 in membership fees for its wellness centers. Equinox similarly touts a $36,000 lifetime add-on it plans to launch on top of a traditional gym membership.

Municipal aims for the same level of luxury, says Wahlberg, but for much less. "We're better priced than our competitors and we're going to get a lot more results," he said. For example, he said that for $99, members will get three rounds of blood tests and an hour with a doctor to determine what they're prone to. Supplements and hormone therapy are also "out there."

When we asked if the gyms were storefronts for his other products (he owns a supplement brand), he said, "Sort of." What he's really building, he said, is a "health and wellness ecosystem" where "it's all there, soup to nuts."

He didn't specify the number of clubs he wants, but he called the growth strategy "aggressive," telling us that "owners and developers who visited the Las Vegas site have offered 'AAA locations in very good condition, with great TIs'" (a tenant improvement grant that helps pay for construction).

Wahlberg's fitness record might scare someone else. We told him we recently watched "Wahl Street," his reality show, in which an early episode revealed he's deeply involved with the F45 fitness chain in 2019, and wanted to warn him about what's to come. "How did you know about the epidemic?" He joked to laughs from the crowd. He bought the company known for its 45-minute classes for $450 million. It went public in 2021, then delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in 2023 after its stock crashed. Wahlberg said he learned a lot from the experience.

"I think the biggest solution was making sure I was involved with people who had the same approach as me." He also said that he always thought the big box was a better model. F45's classes are perfect for people who are short on time, but he wants members to spend hours wandering around City Hall. Many gyms operate on a "join but don't show up" model, he said, adding, "I can't understand that philosophy."

The name Municipal is very intentional and clearly means a lot to Wahlberg, who grew up poor in Boston, one of nine kids who played on public basketball courts and golf courses. "You learn a lot on the black screen," he said. "You learn to win, lose, compete, and hopefully get back up and do it again."

He has never hidden his violent youth. (As a teenager, he was sentenced to two years for assault and served 45 days.)

Indeed, early Thursday afternoon, surrounded by friends and business associates in a backstage seating area — after all, this is the man who inspired the show "Companions" — he said he was turned away by two people, including Father Jim Flavin, a Boston-area pastor who has been in Wahlberg's life since he was 13.

He wants gyms to have the same spirit. "It's a place to work, but also have fun and support each other and build community and really challenge people to be better versions of themselves," he said. He said clearly: This is personal. "I came from nothing," Amvalberg said.

At 55, his goals have changed, he added. While she once focused on looking good, she said, "I just want to feel good when I wake up in the morning." "I want to be able to conquer everything I have planned for the day."

He also said that his plate is extremely full at the moment, between the gym, a film role as Pete Rose and his daughter's equestrian career. He said he's so excited for the gym to open, that visiting the construction site feels like "literally watching paint dry." Indeed, when asked if he was ready to take on new ventures, he shrugged. "I'm not out hunting, I'm definitely looking for the next thing." But he didn't deny it, he quickly added. "If something amazing happens, obviously I wouldn't rule it out."

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