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With many companies continuing to allow employees to work remotely either fully or part time, spaces that fuse work with leisure and fitness are popping up. Given the continuing trends of health awareness and flexible work options, premium lifestyle brands, like Life Time and Equinox, have leaned in, offering coworking setups separate from workout areas.

In addition to coffee, wireless internet, ergonomically correct furniture, private phone rooms and desks, these memberships come with perks like networking opportunities, discounted gym rates, on-demand online fitness classes or virtual training.

And, since facilities are typically located near – or at – the branded fitness centers, officegoers can take a break with a quick workout, spa service or sauna session before getting back to business.

Sweet Honey Farm in Monmouth County is taking that concept a step further.

Billed as a 360-degree wellness experience, the 10-acre property in Morganville combines a gym and coworking space with community supported agriculture.

Sweet Honey Farm is located on a historic estate purchased three years ago by Devon Lévesque, an Instagram content creator with more than 1 million followers and a self-described “serial entrepreneur and philanthropist.”

Since the 32-year-old launched his latest venture in July, Sweet Honey Farm has a waiting list of 3,100 people interested in joining the community for an annual fee of $7,000. So far, it has accepted the first 100 members and plans to cap the overall number at 250, he said.

To maintain integrity and cultivate a community of “like-minded individuals who support and inspire each other,” community supported agriculture (CSA) membership is by referral only, Lévesque said.

Given the interest, Lévesque believes “it’s clear that this is something that New Jersey residents want and need.”

From farm to fitness

At Sweet Honey Farm, members are part of a CSA experience that grants them exclusive, private access to the farm and its wellness amenities. There’s a 7,000-square-foot coworking space in the farmhouse and a 1,300-square-foot gym in the barn that includes cardio equipment, free weights and weekly classes. There are also saunas, red light therapy, cold plunges, a saltwater pool and hyperbaric chamber therapy.

Additionally, the experience includes free daily coffee from an onsite café; picking organically grown, in-season produce from the garden to bring home; gathering farm fresh eggs; participating in goat yoga and horseback riding.

Since Sweet Honey Farm is big on community, it hosts “purposeful events” for members, like movie nights, weekly group workouts and farm education classes.

Lévesque said founding members seem thrilled with the space. “They might go do some meditation on the farm, jump in the sauna and then cold plunge, then get on their laptop,” he said. “Then go walk down in the garden, pick some flowers and jump back on a call … people have told me, like, ‘I’ve never been so productive in my work life ever.’”

“I think it’s due to having just an open area. You’re not in a box, you’re not in an office, you’re in nature where humans are supposed to be. When people take off their shoes and walk in the grass, your brain starts to open up a little bit and you start to become a little bit more creative,” he said.

“Since COVID, people are working much more remote and they have a little bit more freedom with their time. So, this is essentially an oasis that people can come to and just kind of be free and maximize their time and creativity,” he said.

“I think we’re recreating what a work environment is and setting the standard of what a work environment should be,” he said.

The accessibility of Sweet Honey Farm is also going over well with visitors, he said. “We’re in Central Jersey – about 20 minutes from the beach and 45 minutes from New York City. There’s about 56 cars a minute that pass by the property, which is pretty insane. But when you’re on the property, you don’t hear any of the cars or anything because it is a pretty vast.”

“It’s such an easy access point for people that are in New Jersey, whether you’re in all the way down in Philadelphia or if you’re all the way up in New York City, it’s a pretty centralized location that’s off of all the major highways,” he said.

Another benefit is that it raises awareness about the importance of growing one’s food, Lévesque said.

“Less than 1% of Americans right now grow their own food compared to 50-plus years ago where it was upwards of 50%. So, that’s a massive issue in America right now,” he said. “And we’re providing people the ability to grow their own food and just live a more balanced life where they encompass longevity.”

State of gardening

For Lévesque, Sweet Honey Farm is a throwback to his childhood in New Hampshire, where he tended to cows, horses, chickens, goats and sprawling fields at his family’s farm.

After spending several years working in the nightlife industry in the New York City area, Lévesque found himself longing for the slower-paced days of farm life and the calm that tends to come with physical tasks, like farm chores and caring for animals.

In 2021, he purchased the 19th century farm property in Morganville as his first home and left Jersey City behind. After noticing how his guests always left with a smile on their face, Lévesque decided to transform it into a CSA, where members have access to animals, organic eggs, vegetables and everything else the farm has to offer.

“Sweet Honey Farm is making farming cool again and bringing the ‘garden’ back to the Garden State. And we’re just bringing together good people with good energy and giving people a blank canvas to go and accomplish what they want to accomplish,” said Lévesque, who no longer lives at the property following its change to a CSA.

After five years in the hospitality sector, a 23-year-old Lévesque began coaching clients on positive energy and unique health practices. That quickly led him to found two companies: The DML Group, which invests in growth-stage health and wellness ventures, and Creator & Co. – now known as And Gather – a digital marketing agency that helps brands partner with the right influencers. Just a few of the names that Lévesque and his team have worked with include Super Coffee, Assault Fitness, Whoop, Playbook, Promix Nutrition, Cuts Clothing, Arena and Gymshark.

Aside from making investments in brands and growing companies in the health and wellness space, Lévesque has made headlines for going to extremes. Never one to shy away from a challenge, he’s summited some of the tallest peaks on Earth, run marathons on all fours and broken world records. He’s also made giving back and raising awareness a priority, particularly for the causes of mental wellness and the environment.

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A post shared by Devon M Lévesque (@devonlevesque)

“With a father and a grandfather who both were professional weightlifters and entrepreneurs, I’ve been immersed in the fitness industry my whole life. I believe fitness is a tool for mental strength, which is the foundation of a healthy wellbeing,” Lévesque said.

“Being physically strong is one thing, but being able to be mentally strong is another ball game. My Dad was a strong man, physically. But mentally he didn’t have an outlet for his uncertainties in 2008. Watching his mental battles has brought understanding to me 12 years after he took his life. I’m passionate about bringing awareness in support of others struggling with mental health,” he said.

In 2020, he traversed the entire length of the New York City marathon – 26.2 miles – on all fours in 20 hours and 48 minutes. Besides setting a world record, he also raised $200,000 for FitOps, a foundation that helps veterans use their fitness and leadership skills to become personal trainers. His efforts also scored him an invite by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden to the White House’s 2021 Fourth of July Barbecue with military service members and their families.

Lévesque was also among a group of bicyclists who rode from San Diego to St. Augustine, Fla., last year to raise enough money to provide 3,000 bikes and helmets to disadvantaged kids.

In May, he summited Mount Everest and did a backflip on top of highest peak in the world.

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A post shared by Devon M Lévesque (@devonlevesque)

In another cool experience, Lévesque was on an expedition in Antarctica in late 2022 and was the first person to use Starlink to connect to the internet. He used the SpaceX-backed satellite technology to video call his mother.

Up next: a 120-mile swim across Lake Michigan and the Running Man Festival in Atlanta this fall.

Finding purpose

Lévesque said, “I always try to do one thing hard every year that really pushes my limits. And when I do that, it gives me purpose in that year, not just for business or making money or trying to grow a company to a certain amount, but rather things that money cannot buy, things that can never be taken away from me.”

“And the more that I travel and do these physical activities, these adventures or expeditions, my brain expands,” he said. “That allows me to approach business from a much more methodical manner because I’ve tested my brain in so many other ways.”

When it comes to his professional pursuits or personal endeavors, Lévesque said, “There’s five strict criteria that I kind of rate things on. And that goes for everything from who I talk to, where I go, what business I invest in or start. The five values are family, community, freedom of time, health and giving back.”

“If anything doesn’t have one of those five things involved, then I’m just strictly not doing it,” he said. “It allows me to filter out all the things that honestly don’t really matter to me.”

Lévesque went on to say, “I had a couple of turning points in my life that made me grow up fast – one was when my dad took his life when I was 16 and I went to military academy in Philadelphia … One of the worst things I ever saw in my life was watching my dad being so unhappy, so I’ve always tried to find a way to live a sustainably balanced life to where you can control the stress, you can control the way you react and you can control your times.”

As a speaker who had done engagements before major corporations like Forbes, Meta and Google, Lévesque said he focuses on the importance of mission statements not just for businesses, but also for individuals.

“So, I try to push that out in the world that, ‘Hey, if you have your four or five values that you live off of and you’re really strict with those, you can actually live a happier life and you can find more opportunities.’ And at first, it’s tough because people are so used to living a certain way, but when you’re strict with it, you’ll start to see things change in the most beautiful way,” he said.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 3:31 p.m. ET Aug. 14, 2024, to include updated information, such as the current number of people on the waiting list, the facility’s annual fee, the owner’s age and a rebranded name for one of his companies.