VASA Fitness: Matteson, ILlinois

Pro Commercial converted 57,934 square feet of former big box retail into VASA Fitness Matteson, in Matteson, Illinois. The original shell, slab and structure were retained while the interior was fully rebuilt for fitness use.

Converting retail space into VASA Fitness Matteson

A retail building is one large open volume with a simple plumbing and mechanical load behind it. A fitness facility is not. The finished space carries a hardwood basketball court, an indoor lap pool and full locker rooms, and a retail box is not built to support any of the three. Water supply, drainage and humidity control all have to be introduced where none existed, and the mechanical system has to condition a space that size with a pool inside it.

That is the trade with adaptive reuse. You inherit a building envelope and a location that already work, and you rebuild everything inside to suit a use the original developer never planned for.

Pro Commercial also built VASA Fitness in Racine, Wisconsin, alongside other commercial projects.