Until just a few months ago, the building directly behind Troy Gymnastics housed cars and mechanics and served as a place to get an oil change or a tire rotation.
Now, the 10,000-square-foot facility is in the hands of Troy Gymnastics owners Toby and Julie Buechner, who, in less than three months, completely gutted and renovated the building. On Tuesday, they officially opened the building as Troy Gymnastics West.
"The best part is just having more space and not having to turn away kids," Julie said.
At Troy Gymnastics, where enrollment increased by 42 percent in August alone, finding enough space to accommodate the ever-increasing number of students has proven to be a challenge for the Buechners, who began looking for an additional building six years ago.
When the facility next door went on the market a few months ago, the Buechners snapped it up, gutted it and started nearly from scratch to create a facility that includes two gyms for younger children as well as an observation deck for parents, closed-circuit television monitoring between buildings and free WiFi.
"It's so much better for the kids," Troy Gymnastics instructor Paul Columbo said. "It's so much better for the instructors, too."
But Toby said the point of expanding isn't just to take on more students and offer more classes. "It's about employing people, too," he said.
"To do what we've done in two months is incredible," Toby said. Chuckling, he added: "One lady said to me, 'I had my oil changed here three months ago!'"
For more information about Troy Gymnastics, including class schedules, call 248-816-8496 or visit troygymnastics.com.
Martha Brandt Johnson
10:27 am on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Way to go Toby and Julie!!! You guys rock!!!
nancy madzia
2:04 pm on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Kudos to the both of you and thanks for making Troy a better place for kids!