GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Grand Rapids aerial fitness studio is preparing for its grand opening inside its new space.

Zeal Aerial Fitness has moved out of its old location inside a former warehouse on Godfrey Avenue. Now, it’s set to host a grand opening inside its new building, located at 131 Caledonia Ave. near Plainfield Avenue in the Grand Rapids Creston neighborhood.

“We are thrilled to be moving into this new location in the Creston area,” owner Christinia VanDam said. “We’re just very excited to be here. The support from the Creston neighborhood has been absolutely amazing and we’re looking forward to our grand opening on Friday.”

Zeal Aerial Fitness, which was first started back in 2018, offers everything from aerial silks and bungee to pole dancing and flexibility classes. But it also offers an inclusive community, VanDam said. She said her team offers activities throughout the year for students, like summer beach days, and that she often hears about students becoming close friends with their fellow classmates.

“We are very aware of who we bring in as staff and making sure that they share that same vision and alignment of (understanding that) this is not just a place to do aerials or circus-type activities, this is a community,” she said.

“Not only do I want people to feel like they are welcome at Zeal, but I want them to know that they truly belong,” she later added in a post-interview email to News 8.

When she first started Zeal in 2018 as a hobby, she never expected it to grow into what it is today. It’s now her full-time job, and she bought the building at 131 Caledonia Ave. in May 2024. She has been working with her contractor ever since to turn it into her community’s new home.

The building was built in the 1920s, and used to be a Michigan Bell building. Most recently, it was office space for a local company and En Vivo Church has some office space along one side of the building. It has character, like a mural in the stairwell of what’s now an emergency exit. The around 7,000-square-foot, two-story building is also considerably larger than the 3,000-square-foot space Zeal moved out of.

Since construction started last year, VanDam said there has been some hiccups. But for the most part, there were not too many surprises.

“I do remember one day the contractor called me up and said, ‘So this wall is slanted. Do you know this?’ So they actually had to take down a wall because it was not properly secured to the outside wall,” she said. “Just little things like that, there wasn’t anything too major that happened.”

One detail she’s excited about is the paint color of the accent walls. She picked a teal that matches Zeal’s curtains. It wasn’t until later that she realized she had chosen the same paint as the color in her daughter’s bedroom at home.

“I just feel like that’s such a profound thing. That wasn’t the color we were originally going to go with,” she said. “My husband was like, ‘You know, this is our daughter’s room color.’ … That was just such an exciting thing for me. … Just like that little bit of home for me is now also here.”

As she prepares to open, she said students have followed along on social media, where she’s posted photos throughout the process. She said some have told her it already “feels and … looks like home.”

“It’s just so different from the space that we came from,” she said. “It’s nice to know that we can move our physical location, but we’re keeping that same (community) feeling.”