South End has a new kind of storefront: part gym, part doctor's office. STAT Wellness opened its first Charlotte location at 2401 Distribution St., Suite 100, blending functional medicine, physical therapy, strength training and dietitian services inside a single building in the neighborhood.
The opening, reported by Axios, marks the Atlanta-based company's expansion into the Charlotte market after months of anticipation. The facility sits a few blocks off the Rail Trail, according to STAT Wellness, and includes a strength-training gym, medical consultation rooms and member lounges, per Axios's reporting. The station also notes the space is across the street from the Distro beer hub.
STAT Wellness was founded by Kristin Oja, a nurse practitioner, according to the same statwellness.com page cited above. Oja started the business in 2014 as a bootcamp held in a school parking lot, per Georgia College's front page, and opened her first brick-and-mortar facility in West Midtown Atlanta five years later. Axios reports Oja founded STAT Wellness in 2019 and that the company now has eight locations, with the Charlotte spot opening in August 2026, per the station's account — though bizjournals.com had earlier described the South End site as the company's seventh brick-and-mortar location before it opened.
One Roof, Many Services
The idea driving STAT Wellness, per Axios, is to put strength classes, medical consultations, wellness treatments, performance testing and memberships in one place. The Charlotte site offers orthopedic, pelvic floor and performance physical therapy, plus dry needling and cupping, according to statwellness.com, along with group strength classes.
On the medical side, the station reports STAT Wellness provides functional medicine through medical visits, nutrition counseling and health coaching. Performance testing includes VO2 max testing, body composition scans, resting metabolic rate testing and lab work, per the same report. Wellness treatments round things out with IV drips and vitamin injections — Axios notes the company offers more than a dozen IV drip and injection options, priced between $135 and $500, and markets NAD+ infusions for their potential anti-aging effects.
Membership Costs and À La Carte Options
STAT Wellness offers three monthly membership options, according to Axios's reporting. A strength-training membership runs $150 per month and includes unlimited group fitness classes, open gym access, app-based workouts and quarterly body composition scans, per the station. A medicine membership costs $185 per month and includes an hourlong initial medical visit, four annual follow-ups, unlimited dietitian and health coaching appointments, three physical therapy consultations, quarterly body composition scans and a movement screening. A combined medicine-plus-strength membership, which merges the two tiers, costs $295 per month.
Customers don't have to commit to a membership at all. Every service can be booked on its own, according to statwellness.com, and Axios reports that STAT Wellness allows services and appointments to be booked à la carte — a VO2 max test runs $149 and a body composition scan costs $59 outside of membership. HSA cards may be used for memberships and other services, according to statwellness.com.
A Crowded Field in South End
STAT Wellness isn't the only operation blending medicine and recovery in the neighborhood. Nova Wellness, a physician-owned and guided studio also located in South End, offers cryotherapy, IV hydration, NAD+ infusions, weight-loss injections and advanced light therapy, according to Nova Wellness. Axios reports that Nova Wellness offers IV drips, light therapy and aesthetic injectables.
Pause, a recovery-focused brand, already opened in the Arboretum with saunas, cold plunges and recovery treatments, per Axios, and the station reports Pause expects to open another location soon in South End. Separately, Pause Studio describes its South End location as offering infrared saunas, cold plunges, float therapy, LED light therapy, IV drips, NAD+ treatments, whole-body cryotherapy and compression therapy, with medical services provided by an independently owned physician practice. According to WhatNow, Pause's second Charlotte location at 124 E Kingston Ave will span 4,600 square feet inside the Kingston South End residential community and operate seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Elsewhere in Charlotte, Axios reports a wellness hub opened in Plaza Midwood combining a primary care office, tea room, life coaching and a clinical research startup, and that Kenna Kunijo added a Japanese head spa, facials and injectables to its offerings. The station frames all of this as evidence that Charlotte wellness businesses are expanding toward one-stop wellness, recovery and longevity-focused services, and that the broader scene is shifting toward personalized, one-stop experiences.
Part of a Bigger Shift
The STAT Wellness opening lands amid a broader transformation of Charlotte's fitness and wellness market. Axios has separately counted seven recently opened and nine anticipated fitness and wellness businesses across the city. Drench, a studio offering sculpt, kettlebell and Lagree classes, planned to open to founding members in June before a wider public opening in July.
Charlotte's wellness scene is increasingly oriented toward one-stop wellness experiences.
