By Cecilia Nasmith

Port Hope

The former Canadian Tire property in Port Hope had been empty for 18 years when Epic Gymnastics & Dance opened there. Now with two additional businesses, it's really hopping.

Sitting at what owner Walter Hillman called the gateway to Port Hope, the former Canadian Tire property at 10 Robertson St. has gone from derelict to dynamic over the past few years.

The latest innovation came earlier this month with the opening of the Pulse Coffee House on site. But it's been hopping for a few years now with two fitness businesses, Focused Momentum and Epic Gymnastics & Dance.

The Pulse Coffee House is where Jessica Hillman serves specialty coffees, organic teas, preservative-free breads, homemade delights like carrot cake and chili, and a variety of other healthy choices like salads and smoothies.

“Everything is served fresh, made and baked here every day on-site,” she said in a recent interview.

She partners with local businesses to bring her customers the best - “good food, fresh food, a fresh product,” she said.

Photos by Pete Fisher, Today’s Northumberland.

I have been working on this for two years, to offer a good place to gather, with healthy good food and fresh baked treats.

“It's a really nice way to treat people, without having to worry about all those preservatives in the food. It's really nice to see those good quality-foods and ingredients going out the door.”

She also is proud of the really beautiful atmosphere – her husband does the building, she does the decorating.

Walter Hillman is the owner of Trade Tech Industries, the structural-steel fabricator at the north end of town across from the Hampton Inn, employing 60 people.

Trade Tech designed and built the building, an 1,800-sq.-ft. structure with 18-ft.-high ceilings, open-concept design, exposed trusses, a gas fireplace and a cozy seating area. Its 30-person capacity is doubled when the outdoor patio (with its interlocking brick floor and glass railings) is in use.

Among the crowd who have shown up there in its first few days are a lot of seniors, some of whom have expressed interest in such ideas as holding occasional evening poetry readings.

Walter Hillman sees it as a natural for groups – a bicycling or walking group, for instance, would feel right at home there, taking time over a coffee before setting off on their latest outing.

“We meant it to be more of a community social place where you don't have to have alcohol – you just want to enjoy being alive.”

This lovely purpose-built structure kind of evolved as the other businesses on the property grew and took shape.

Epic Director of Operations Cassandra McColl said their facility has an 8,000-sq.-ft. gym, a 1,000-sq.-ft. dance studio, a 2,000-sq.-ft. dojo and an upstairs viewing area. And they have something for all ages, “as young as 18 months to as old as you want.” Gymnastics and dance start at 18 months, karate at four years and parkour at five.

The doors to Epic opened in July 2020 - “if we made it through COVID times, we could make it through anything,” she declared.

At that time, the building that had been empty for 18 years. When Walter Hillman bought it five years ago, the outside walls were covered in graffiti and move-to-Cobourg signs. His plan was to make it “something where people can come and have a sense of community again.”

Epic has fit the bill, he added.

“They run a fantastic business with about 1,100 members. They're bringing in kids from as far away as Whitby.”

The location is second to none, McColl said, with the Ganaraska River outside the door – and yet they're on the same street as Memorial Park and the Capitol Theatre, and just moments from the downtown shops.

Focused Momentum came along four years ago, with Jessica Hillman taking 4,000 sq. ft. of space and setting up a different business model.

“We operate on a more private basis, compared to chain gyms,” she explained.

“We have a number of trainers and fitness instructors that are knowledgeable and supportive to help you reach all of your fitness goals.”

Personal training, as well as group fitness classes, are offered in everything “from strength training, yoga, Pilates, fusion, Zumba, cycling and so much more.”

Her husband calls it “the gym for everybody that wouldn't go to a gym. Sometimes there's only one person in there.”

And after every class, he added, it's freshly mopped so that it's always spotless.

Jessica Hillman prides her people on welcoming clients with compassion, support and friendly faces in a space where people are excited about fitness and do not feel intimidated.

And as these businesses evolved, she added, the idea of a coffee house seemed a perfect complement to it all.

Mindful of their “gateway” location (which can only become more significant as the centre pier plans proceed), Walter Hillman has further improvements in mind to make it worthy of the title, such as landscaping plans to make it look more welcoming.

He also has plans to apply stucco to the old Canadian Tire building with the intent of having a mural there, a 160-ft.-long work of art.

“It would be a great addition to the property and to the downtown” he said.

“This is a high-energy property – gymnastics, hard work, karate, the gym. It's a high-energy building, so we want the building to express all the things that go on inside.”

Any prospective artist interested in being the creator of such a piece is invited to submit expressions of interest to whillman@tradetech.ca