The location in southeast Colorado Springs once housed a Kings Soopers
VASA Fitness is expanding to a fifth location in Colorado Springs. It will renovate a long-vacant King Soopers on the city’s southeast side that at one point was envisioned as an affordable-housing development. The new gym will be located at 3175 Jet Wing Drive.
The location continues VASA’s trend of converting vacant big-box stores that began in 2018, when the Colorado-based company opened its first location in Colorado Springs. That gym, at 455 E. Cheyenne Mountain Blvd., went into a former Albertsons, and since then the company has moved into a pair of closed Kmarts and a former Gold’s Gym.
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VASA hopes to accomplish two things at once with its fifth Springs location. First, it wants to add a location between its Cheyenne Mountain and North Powers Boulevard (5885 Palmer Park Blvd.) gyms, which is something members have requested repeatedly, said Alethea Norton, the company’s regional director.
“Our Colorado Springs Cheyenne club is busy. … Our members have been asking us for another club nearby for a couple of years,” Norton said, adding that VASA has been eyeing the new spot for some time. “(Jet Wing) solves that problem for us.”
VASA Fitness is building its fifth Colorado Springs location at 3175 Jet Wing Drive. The company expects doors to open in mid-December. (Alex Edwards, The Gazette)
Second, VASA also wants to be a business catalyst for revitalizing a commercial area that has lost an anchor tenant. It won’t be the first time it’s happened, Norton said, highlighting the impact VASA had after opening its 3020 N. Nevada gym at the Fillmore Marketplace.
The marketplace was once anchored by a Kmart, which closed in 2018. This cleared the way for property owners to begin redeveloping the property. Norton said it was in “rough” shape when VASA first moved in. Since opening in 2019, the Fillmore Marketplace experienced something of a rebirth and is now home to Roadhouse Cinemas, a health food store and a Home2 Suites by Hilton.
“We really love getting to be a new, positive, uplifting anchor point where we get to revitalize that space. That area really came back to life,” Norton said, adding that she hopes to see the same results at future locations including the upcoming Jet Wing gym.
Revitalizing old buildings is also somewhat economical, she said. Old grocery and big-box stores provide a blank template that VASA can fine-tune to whatever it needs.
But not every building is the same, and some present design challenges. However, Norton said this leads to each gym having a little bit of character, making each club “feel special.” While the shopping center on Jet Wing has sat empty for more than two decades, Norton believes that offering a “safe and uplifting healthy space for people will transform the area.”
The Jet Wing location is southeast of the intersection of South Academy Boulevard and Hancock Expressway, behind the Mission Trace Shopping Center. The gym will open in mid-December, Norton said and VASA has started hiring store leadership.
Positions for trainers and other staff will open soon, she said.
“We’re gearing up for a really strong opening,” she said. “This is going to be our 20th location in Colorado, so it’s a big celebration milestone for us.”
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