SOUTH WILLIAMSBURG — A decade-old kids' gymnastics school considered closing after losing its lease on a building that will soon be Vice Media's future office.
But Ms. J's Gymnastics and Dance got lucky and found a spot across the street that doubles their space — with rent that costs just $1 more per square foot, said owners Gerard Irving and Wei Jiang.
Ms. J, which opened 10 years ago at 289 Kent Ave., reopened at 43 South First St. last week.
With more space, the husband-wife duo hope that they can rent out some of it for other activities, such as adult fitness classes or parties, to help make rent costs.
Plus, now students have more room to jump around, they said.
"Our rent doubled, but so what? We have bigger space," Irving said. "We're feeling pretty good. We couldn't be luckier."
Despite needing to leave their longtime space, the two had only positive things to say about Vice, a company that some have criticized for displacing institutions that helped build Williamsburg up.
When Irving wrote to the longtime Williamsburg media company begging it to let the gym stay, Vice said it couldn't do that — but that the company could give them a rent extension and pay the difference between the gym's current rent and market rate rent.
It was a suggestion that surprised the couple.
"What a generous offer," Irving said. "I don't know what [the landlord] would have wanted for market, but it's a couple thousand a month."
"We've been in the neighborhood for over fifteen years, and were happy to have the opportunity to offer another longtime neighbor an extension so they could run their program through the summer," a Vice spokesman said.
Irving and Jiang almost had to accept the extension — until a chance encounter helped them find a new space.
Finding a new location for the gym, which requires a special space with high ceilings, wasn't easy. Most old warehouses in the area have been turned into condos or were out of their price range.
But one day, Irving returned to his car to find that it had been hit — and it ended up being a blessing.
The man who hit the car left a note, and shortly after, the man's son-in-law came to Irving to look at the damage. Turned out, the guy knew that a nonprofit was moving out of the warehouse space at 43 South First St. soon.
"We made an appointment that night. We met the landlord. Boom," Irving said.
"We signed a lease within a week," Jiang said.
Classes and summer camp programming are running full blast at Ms. J's now, a spot that's named after Jiang, a former Olympic gymnast for China. There's now more room for their after-school program, and space for future yoga and pilates classes for adults while their kids are in the gym.
And they're happy to be staying in the neighborhood where Irving grew up with a bigger gym for the kids who come through.
"Last week, we had almost 30 kids in here," Jiang said. "You wouldn’t even know there are so many kids. It was excellent."
