Los Angeles Times X Fred Fitness
Fred Fitness, built out by GCX in Santa Monica, was recently profiled in “I Worked Out With an AI Trainer at L.A.’s ‘First Full-Scale AI-Powered Gym.’ Here’s How It Went,” reported by Deborah Vankin for the Los Angeles Times.
GCX Project Spotlight · Santa Monica, CA
Fred Fitness occupies 11,500 square feet on 4th Street in Santa Monica, in a space that used to be a Patagonia retail store. Today it’s a full-body assessment station, a floor of AI-guided cardio and strength equipment, and roughly 400 members paying a monthly rate to have their workouts managed by software the gym calls Genius. GCX handled the buildout that made that transformation possible from an empty retail box to a fully connected fitness floor.
Fred Fitness CEO Andre Enzensberger told the Times the city was the right place to launch something this different, saying “we wanted to embrace the open-mindedness of the people of Los Angeles.” As the contractor who built the space, that open-mindedness extended to the buildout itself this wasn’t a standard gym fit-out, and it couldn’t be built like one.
01 — What the L.A. Times Noticed
The Times’ reporter walked through a space that, at first glance, reads like a high-end gym in a tiny neighborhood: soaring ceilings, exposed wood rafters, hanging plants, and an airy, bright floor plan. What the piece captures well is the contrast between that calm, architectural feel and the technology running beneath it an AI system integrated into every cardio and strength machine on the floor, guiding each member’s workout in real time.
02 — Behind The Build
That meant sequencing electrical and low-voltage work ahead of finishes, planning equipment placement around data runs rather than just traffic flow, and coordinating closely with the technology vendor so the system was live and calibrated before members ever stepped on the floor. The result is a space that opened in mid-February with about 400 members already training on it and a buildout the Los Angeles Times singled out by name.
03 — Why This Project Matters to Us - Proof of adaptive reuse done right. Fred Fitness shows what’s possible when a dark retail box gets a second life instead of sitting vacant on a Santa Monica corridor.
- Tech-integrated construction is our lane. Power, data, and low-voltage infrastructure planned alongside architectural finishes — not retrofitted after the fact.
- Design that holds up under press scrutiny. The Times’ reporter walked in expecting a gimmick and described an airy, well-designed space first, tech second.
- A template for what’s next. The same approach applies to wellness studios, recovery suites, and other tech-forward commercial interiors across Los Angeles.
Want A Build That Turns Heads?
GCX · General Contractor · Source: Deborah Vankin, Los Angeles Times