A $750-a-month gym membership makes Equinox’s fees look like pocket change.
But Drew Peterson believes that’s a deal for his upcoming Cherry Creek outfit, OODA Life, which is set to open Nov. 1 at 3300 E. 1st Ave.
“It’s way better than you’d get in New York, Scottsdale or Beverly Hills, which is where our closest competitors are in terms of the closest thing that we’re offering,” the Denver native said. “And some of those are like $10,000 a month.”
OODA — an Air Force-inspired acronym for observe, orient, decide, act — will offer personal training and tailored nutrition programs alongside the typical gym fare of free weights and machines to the 13,000-square-foot space.
But what really sets the place apart, according to Peterson, is the more new-age recovery offerings, like cold plunges, red light therapy and Shiftwave vibration chairs.
Peterson said he’s particularly excited to show off OODA’s ARX machines, which he said uses an artificial intelligence-powered weightlifting regimen.
“In 15 minutes you can get all you need,” he said of the Austin-based product. “And then our added personalized training gets you some of that lateral movement and unilateral movement you need.”
The first 100 OODA members will pay $649 a month, while the remaining will pay $749, plus a $250 initiation fee. The spot will also offer IV therapy, meal prep services and other bloodwork for additional costs.
“It’s almost like a personal trainer in which you would pay $100 a session. We want it to be like you have eight sessions a month,” he said, explaining that the price tag was built around that number. “So you get that personalized training program, personalized mobility and personalized nutrition along with the unlimited use.”
OODA is a culmination of a 10-year dive into health tech and longevity for Peterson, he said. The former financier, who left his day job working in wealth management, said he began taking his health more seriously after the deaths of his father and mother-and-law following routine procedures and treatments.
Part of opening OODA, he said, is to promote healthy lifestyles as people age.
“The initiative around this is to get people to get their mobility and strength and bone density up,” he said.
Along with all the personalized offerings, Peterson said he will also have several doctors and a nutritionist on staff to help members tailor their experience around any existing health conditions. He also plans to host monthly educational talks with experts who can explain the benefits of OODA’s various treatments.
“Part of this is that I built a place for me,” Peterson explained. “It’s all the things I want to do on a daily basis that are scientifically backed and provide some of the benefits of longevity.”
Peterson signed a five-year lease for the basement space, which was home to Zone Athletic Club. He said he’s spent over $2 million on the equipment and the buildout, which started in January and wrapped up last month.
He plans to cap the space at around 300 members and said he’s already gotten about 25 sign-ups from his target market of 40-to 60-year-olds in the neighborhood who are focused on prolonging their lives. Surprisingly, he said, older pickleballers have also been a solid stream so far, with several of those prospective members being people in their 60s and 70s.
“It’s a community of people who just want to work on their longevity and health,” he said. “We’re a one-stop wellness shop.”
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