The brand new, hi-tech fitness center on 4th Street, between Arizona Ave and Santa Monica Blvd, held its official hard opening on Saturday, adding to the ever-increasing number of athletic-related outlets already there and due to arrive, including Road Runner Sports, SportsFest, Anytime Fitness and the pickleball courts that may, or may not, come to fruition.

Called Fred Fitness, its unique selling point is that the technology being employed is so advanced, that the company is claiming it utilizes artificial intelligence. The idea was conceptualized by Alfred Enzensberger, founder of Clever Fit, with the support of EGYM CEO Philipp Roesch-Schlanderer.

The 11,500-square-foot space at 1344 4th Street that was formerly the home of Patagonia has been radically transformed and the interior is now a stylish bare brick and natural wood affair, offering a very classic aesthetic. Andre Enzensberger CEO of Fred Fitness and Alfred’s brother, says that everything inside was painted white and every single surface was sand blasted for six weeks to create the more timeless bare brick vibe.

Joining Andre on Saturday morning was Mayor Lana Negrete, Judy Kruger, President of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, Andrew Thomas, CEO of DTSM, Inc., Jeremy Ferguson, Operations & Placemaking Director for DTSM, Inc and many others, all keen to get their sweat on. 

“We are really excited about the support that we received from everyone, including DTSM who has been periodically checking in on us to make sure that everything is going smoothly, but also gave us great insight and knowledge about anything and everything we needed to know,” Andre said.

The original date of the official opening was back in the second week of January, but Andre said it simply wasn’t appropriate to be celebrating as the wildfire tragedy was still unfolding.

“Our hearts here always go out to everyone that lost a home. They affected us too, because, of course, we created a momentum in marketing that was geared towards our January 11 opening, but the fires, of course, made us have to stop all of our efforts and just open our doors for the community to help where we can,” he said, adding, “We still wanted to open our doors, but mostly just so we can welcome people from our community and support them with Wi-Fi, with water, with showers, with just the love from our staff, we just wanted to be part of the community and not just shut our doors and save operating costs and open a month later as if nothing’s happening.”

Negrete remarked on how it never hurts to have yet more compelling reasons in our lives to stay fit and healthy. “I think it’s amazing that we don’t have just any gym here. I haven’t seen anything like this and to be the first – in the world I think – the innovation, technology, health, wellness, fitness, I’m super happy that they’re here and they chose Fourth Street to help activate our downtown area.”

scott.snowden@smdp.com