Gevity co-founders Connor and Espoir Michalek met in Spain over a game of chess. The game is now part of Gevity's common space. (Katlynn Fox/Community Impact)
Connor and Espoir Michalek carved out a wellness space in North Austin, providing fitness, recovery and coworking resources under one roof. At Gevity, members can expect to find offerings rooted in community, Espoir Michalek said.
“I don't believe that we're meant to be sitting behind a desk for six to eight hours every day,” Espoir Michalek said. “We're humans—we're meant to create, to move, to be with other humans.”
The backstory
After being laid off from his job in 2022, Connor Michalek traveled the world—seeing 27 countries in 11 months. Two months into traveling, he met Espoir in the south of Spain. Espoir Michalek was raised around fitness and wellness, as her parents owned one of the oldest gyms in Vienna.
“I grew up in [that] environment and always wanted to be surrounded by movement and recovery,” Espoir Michalek said.
While working on a website to catalog his trips, Connor Michalek visited a wellness club where a cold plunge kick-started a distinct wave of energy. The plunge translated into productivity at work—leading to a moment that he refers to as the “ice bath epiphany.”
“I really saw a huge disconnect, specifically within the Austin landscape,” Connor Michalek said. “Why do all the most important aspects of our lives live in silos?”
Gevity offers recovery resources, including contrast therapy with a communal dry sauna and two cold plunges. (Katlynn Fox/Community Impact)
What they offer
The entrepreneurs quickly began collaborating to shape Gevity, Austin’s membership-based hub for comprehensive wellness and performance. The business officially opened in fall 2025.
Gevity’s house membership, totaling $360 per month, has three pillars: wellness, workspace, and connection and experience. The wellness aspect includes access to the premium gym, daily yoga and fitness classes, a dry sauna and cold plunge. The workspace access includes quiet spaces, private meeting rooms, standing desks, a lounge and kitchenette.
The connection and experience side of the business features events and programming, a social lounge, guest passes for new visitors and a cafe serving Alchemy Organics beverages and light bites.
The fitness area of Gevity features a gym and studio space for exercise classes. The gym features a range of equiptment and machines. (Katlynn Fox/Community Impact)
“You're coming in to work, but you also—in the same hour—shut down your laptop, go take a yoga class, go hop in the gym, go out for an afternoon pick-me-up in the cold plunge, and at the end of the day, recover [and] hop in the infrared sauna,” Connor Michalek said.
The facility also offers a Gevity Lab add-on, providing unlimited access to a redlight therapy bed, infrared sauna, PEMF therapy and more recovery tools. Members also get discounts on additional services, including vitamin IV therapy, boardroom rentals, massages and acupuncture.
The main component of the space is its coworking features, Espoir Michalek said, which are highlighted through the private meeting rooms, standing desks and quiet working spaces. (Katlynn Fox/Community Impact)
What’s special about it?
One of the business’s unique features is its connection to other entrepreneurs in the community. Approximately 60% of the club’s 266 members are founders and entrepreneurs, many of whom use the space to connect with the community as a form of inspiration and motivation, Connor Michalek said.
“We've slowly become home to some of Austin's most ambitious professionals building, creating [and] innovating,” Connor Michalek said.
What’s next
While Gevity includes 18,000 square feet of space, the co-founders have only built out 15,000 square feet. After taking into consideration member feedback, they are creating 18 private offices and eight to 10 designated desks.
