B.C. Kowalski/City Pages
Dan Anderson is finding success for Evolve Fitness at his new Dudley Tower location.
Downtown Grocery wasn’t the only business forced to close when a fire exactly a year ago ravaged the building on Third Street. Evolve Fitness had been open less than a year on the second floor, and the blaze sent owner Dan Anderson scrambling for a new location to house his personal training and fitness class studio.
As Downtown Grocery begins its rebuilding process, adding a dining loft and other improvements to the building in a redesigned space, Evolve is evolving too, in an entirely new home.
The fitness center is finding success on the first floor of the Dudley Tower and the business continues to expand, attracting more clients, with more trainers on staff. With the continued growth, Anderson is now eyeing expanding to a much larger space on the building’s third floor.
The studio, which has typical gym equipment like squat racks, kettle bells, free weights and medicine balls, also has a large, open space with flooring that accommodates a range of group training sessions.
Anderson moved into the Dudley Tower only a week after the fire, and admits that he considered the space temporary for nearly the past year. That is, until this August, when he realized the building was a perfect fit. The wide open space is actually smaller than his previous spot, but functionally bigger. The space above Downtown Grocery was divided into a number of rooms, whereas his Dudley Tower location is one large open space.
The old location had a historic feel that he liked, Anderson says, but it’s hard to deny the charm of the Dudley Tower building, with its large open windows overlooking Rib Mountain and the Wisconsin River. Like his previous spot, the studio is well decorated with industrial art.
“It’s really a different vibe from the other space,” Anderson says. “It’s more industrial, warehouse type of a space. As I looked around at other spaces, this more and more started to feel like home.”
Evolve now has five trainers on staff, compared to the two including himself when Anderson first opened Evolve at the Third Street building. That has helped increase both the numbers of personal training clients as well as the types of classes offered. Exercisers now can choose from seven types of classes including kettle bell, Zumba, dance and fitness classes such as P90X.
Another reason Anderson is staying in the Dudley Tower: He hopes to start working with more corporate clients. With his degree in corporate wellness, being in the 10-story building that houses Ruder Law Firm, Miron Construction, Collaborative Consulting and more is a perfect place to launch that initiative.
A number of clients already come from businesses within the building. Evolve has lunchtime and after-work classes. Anderson says he expects to move into the third floor space by the end of the year.
