NEWS CHRONICLE PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — Flex Fitness Owner Ashley Hazen flexes for the camera inside her new building at 220 W. 3rd St. in Tama, the former home of the Tama News-Herald and Tama-Toledo News Chronicle, on Monday.

When Flex Fitness Owner Ashley Hazen and her husband Justin bought the former Tama News-Herald and Tama-Toledo News Chronicle building at 220 W. 3rd St. back in 2023, they were excited about the opportunity to more than double their space and create a state-of-the-art workout center for local residents. They also knew they were taking on a major project and ended up investing around $250,000 in the property once all was said and done.

But the Hazens, who reside between Albion and Liscomb in rural Marshall County, are proud of the finished product and the transformation they’ve achieved, and they marked the occasion with a special grand opening event on Sunday. Ashley, who grew up in northeast Iowa and formerly worked for the Meskwaki Nation, started the business in 2019 two buildings over (she has since sold that space to El Gallito Grocery Store) and navigated her way through the thorny realities of the COVID-19 pandemic — which, considering the nature of the business, was especially difficult for gyms — and the devastating derecho that ravaged Tama and Toledo on Aug. 10, 2020.

Not long after the birth of her son, Hazen finalized the purchase of the building in July of 2023 and immediately got to work on removing dumpster loads of clutter and debris, gutting it and installing new epoxy floors.

“My husband is amazing and did it. He had to grind everything off and just get that floor cleaned off, laid the epoxy and then there was a chemical smell. That was part of the reason it took a year and a half and not a year because we waited four months to try to cure that smell out,” she said. “It was one, fairly expensive, but two, it looked beautiful. Well, we had to grind it off again. He had all of his hours logged. It was over 50 hours he spent on it.”

Local contractor Scharnweber completed all of the lighting and HVAC work, while Dunn Custom Masonry did the windows. The other main contractors were Triple E Insulation and Megan Seymour Painting.

NEWS CHRONICLE PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — The new Flex Fitness sign, right, can be seen from the exterior of the building along with the old Tama County Publishing sign. Hazen said the exterior of the building will be the last phase of the renovation and likely happen this spring or summer.

Hazen soft opened the new location on Oct. 22, 2024, but she wanted to make sure she had everything done, including the brand new sauna, before the grand opening celebration.

“Justin got that going. He built that whole thing. It’s beautiful. Because you’re building a building inside of a building, it was really hard to do,” Ashley said.

While she’s been appreciative of the community support thus far, Hazen also hopes to get the word out to more residents about the larger, renovated space and some of the specialty classes and programs offered — pilates, weightlifting and senior citizens groups are a few examples — in hopes of attracting more members. She was encouraged by the strong turnout for the grand opening and wanted to stress that Flex Fitness is for everyone from diehards to newcomers.

Hazen is also working on a Silver Sneakers program that can get gym memberships paid for through certain health insurance plans. As the downtown area continues to recover from the derecho, she is optimistic that the project can inspire other building owners to improve their storefronts as well. The exterior of her building, which still bears the old Tama County Publishing sign next to a new Flex Fitness one, will be the last phase of the renovation either this spring or summer.

And of course, she’ll continue to advocate for the importance of health in general.

NEWS CHRONICLE PHOTO BY MICHAEL SWEAT FACTORY DAVIS — From left to right, Flex Fitness employees Kaylynn Dunn, Kaden Timm, Dalia Fuentes and April Farley pose for a photo during the grand opening event on Sunday. Not pictured is owner Ashley Hazen.

“People know it’s important, and we try to keep our memberships low enough (in cost) — obviously, everything is expensive and getting more and more expensive. But we’ve never changed our pricing up until this year,” she said.

In addition to Hazen, Flex Fitness has four part-time staff members and is available for 24-hour access with a membership. Employees are on hand every day but Sunday, and the gym can be reached at (641) 481-7222.

NEWS CHRONICLE PHOTO BY MICHAEL SWEAT FACTORY DAVIS — Flex Fitness Owner Ashley Hazen, right, teaches a workout class during the grand opening event at her new building on Sunday.