Black Box VR to open its first virtual reality gym in San Francisco

Black Box VR chief design officer and co-founder Preston Lewis really thought his inaugural San Francisco virtual reality gym would be open by now.

“I was hoping I could say, ‘We’re open next week,’ but we’re still waiting for the approvals,” Lewis said.

The holdup has been permitting, such as electricity and fire – the city wanted to ensure customers in the throes of the VR experience could still hear the fire alarm, Lewis said.

“They were making sure we have the amperage needed for the space, and making sure everything’s up to code,” especially since that section of the building didn’t have its own power box and meter when construction started, which caused a delay of two to three months, he said.

“It’s a little harder in San Francisco with regulations,” he said. “It’s quite an effort.”

That said, the building could open any day now.

“We need one more electrical approval, and then we can open the doors,” Lewis said.

After that, it takes two days to get a temporary certification of occupancy, and then 30 days to tie up loose ends, he said. On the bright side, the Boise company’s first gym, located across the street from Twitter headquarters, is otherwise ready to go and has been getting good feedback, including positive reviews in the local newspaper.

“Black Box harnessed trendy technology in an intelligent way,” noted reviewer Michelle Robertson on the SFGATE website. “Unlike other au courant Silicon Valley products — robot-made lattes, OneWheels, e-scooters — Black Box devised an exciting solution to a problem that actually exists: motivating people to exercise.”

Lewis said passersby are checking out the VR gym — raising the profile of Black Box VR, which also used virtual reality to help design the facility and won Best Startup at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2018.

“We’ve had a bunch of people looking in the windows, and we’ve given some people tours,” he said. “People are excited to sign up and become members, but because we don’t know when we’ll have the certifications, we say, ‘Come back in a week.’”

The 4,000-square-foot facility is considered “boutique fitness,” comparable to an Orangetheory Fitness or UpCycle facility, and as such the design is a major component.

“A lot of people are liking the aesthetic,” Lewis said. “It’s not a polarizing brand aesthetic.”

Men and women have been fans, and the look appeals to non-gamers, he added.

The gym’s hours are not yet determined, Lewis said. Pricing will start with a “Hero access pass,” offering a $199 monthly unlimited membership, which will be available for a limited time.

In a best-case scenario, franchises in other cities could be open in six months, Lewis said.

“We already have a lot of interest domestically and internationally,” including Dubai, Canada, Australia and Asia, he said.

And Boise?

“We are looking into it in the next six months, depending on how things go in San Francisco,” Lewis said. “We’re born and raised Boiseans, and we would love to have a location to share with everyone,” he said, adding that the company is already in the discovery process for potential properties. A Boise facility would be corporate-owned, not franchised.

A traditional gym in San Francisco often costs $200 to $250 per month, while a boutique operation such as Barry’s Bootcamp can cost $350 per month or more. Pricing for other cities will be predicated on real estate costs.

“Big cities like San Francisco and New York City are going to be more of a premium cost,” Lewis said. “We’re competitively priced for the offerings. … A Boise gym would be less expensive.”

Exercising with VR technology has advantages, including a significant decrease in heart rate, pain intensity and perceived exertion, leading to a significant increase in time to exhaustion, according to 2018 research from the University of Kent.