Building Iron House Gym in Weston as a second career
Iron House is owned by the same person who owns the Weston House Cafe.
This Wausau business story is sponsored by:
The Wausau Business Incubator is ready to give your business the space and support it needs to grow.
Walking into Iron House Gym in Weston, one would be forgiven for doing a quick double-take.
Wasn’t this just a CrossFit gym?
The Wausonian last year reported on the opening of Adventure Awaits CrossFit. The building was purpose-built for that kind of gym, with high ceilings and plenty of space for the kinds of workout CrossFit folks do.
That didn’t ultimately work out, and Adventure Awaits moved to another location in Weston.
Meanwhile, building owner Jeff Evenhouse, who also owns the Weston Cafe next door, needed to do something with the space.
After looking for a tenant, he decided to roll up his sleeves and fill the space himself.
Evenhouse unveiled Iron House Gym with a grand opening Wednesday. On Thursday, he sat down with The Wausonian.
What sets Iron House Gym in Weston apart
Gone are the CrossFit apparatus - in its place are standard gym equipment - dumbbells, squat racks, machines, treadmills - all the kinds of stuff one would expect of a gym. The gym is equipped with a keycard system for 24/7 access, something his members like.
And the timing ended up working out well. LIFT South was winding down, so Evenhouse bought its membership, allowing the gym to open with a base of members.
But he didn’t just throw in some equipment and call it a day. He combed through the space to give it a whole new look, with a polished concrete floor, charcoal painted ceilings and hexagonal overhead lights. Some of the equipment came from LIFT, but much of it he bought himself for the gym.
And the gym complements well the Weston House Cafe next door, which serves healthy food such as acai bowls, flatbread pizzas, wraps and smoothies. Interesting menu items include BBQ chicken flatbread, a southwest chicken bacon ranch wrap, a farm harvest bowl or a banana crunch waffle bowl.
The gym and cafe are something of a second career for Evenhouse. He ran a medical waste business for a number of years and then retired. But that retirement only lasted a couple of months, he said, before he felt like he needed to do something again. “I felt like I was just too young to ‘retire, retire,’ you know?”
Evenhouse had been a wrestler when he was young and a weightlifter, and later a CrossFit athlete. So it made sense to build a building aimed at the CrossFit gym he attended. After that business moved out, a weightlifting gym made sense.
Though it’s largely set up for traditional weightlifting, he does have a corner that could be used for classes. He mentioned HYROX classes, which is the new trend in fitness that is similar to CrossFit, but with a stronger emphasis on endurance.
Evenhouse says a positive gym culture is already growing in the space. “I just want to have good vibes, you know, a positive atmosphere,” Evenhouse told The Wausonian. That positivity is already growing, he says.
Iron House Gym can be found at its Facebook page. The Weston House Cafe is open 7 am-4 pm Monday through Friday, and 8 am-4 pm Saturday and Sunday. It can be found at its Facebook page.
Thanks for reading The Wausonian! If you haven’t subscribed yet, check out the free and paid options below to help support local journalism: